CAMARILLO : Coroner Calls Motorcyclist Brain-Dead After Collision

A 19-year-old Camarillo man was severely injured after the motorcycle he was riding collided with a truck and he was thrown more than 200 feet, authorities said Sunday.

Christopher Coover was declared brain-dead at St. John’s Regional Medical Center at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Ventura County Deputy Coroner Craig Stevens said. Coover was not wearing a helmet and was placed on life-support systems after suffering severe head injuries, Stevens said.

About 11 p.m. Saturday, Oxnard Police Officers Martin Polo and Michael Radziewicz answered a call about people racing in the area of Del Norte Boulevard and Colonia Road, police said. When they arrived, officers saw about 300 people gathered, and two motorcyclists were getting ready to race when the officers intervened.

Police said a fight erupted as the officers dispersed the crowd. As the officers tried to break up the fight, Coover, on a motorcycle, headed north on Del Norte at a high rate of speed, police said.

Coover caught up with a pickup driven by Craig Collier, 18, of Thousand Oaks and when Collier changed lanes to let the motorcycle pass, Coover also switched lanes and slammed into the rear of the truck, police said.

According to the police account, the officers were told about the accident by a passing motorist and radioed for an ambulance.

Coover’s friends and witnesses to the accident called a press conference Sunday afternoon to allege that the officers took too long to summon an ambulance.

Oxnard Police Sgt. George Pultz said he did not know exactly when the officers arrived at the scene of the accident. Polo and Radziewicz were not available for comment.

According to an Oxnard Fire Department dispatcher, Polo radioed for medical help at 11:13 p.m. and the Fire Department responded at 11:14 p.m. A dispatcher at the Gold Coast Oxnard Ambulance Co. said the firm received a call at 11:17 p.m. and arrived at the scene at 11:26 p.m.

Dr. James Kadin, the emergency room doctor who first treated Coover, said any delay in getting Coover to the hospital would not have saved his life. “It wouldn’t have made any difference if he had been there immediately,” Kadin said. “His injuries were fatal. He might have been saved if he had been wearing a helmet.”