Baltimore Motorcycle Accident News: Maryland Woman Pleads Guilty to Drunk Driving Death of Glen Burnie Biker

Motorcycle riders are particularly at risk when it comes to Maryland traffic accidents. Unlike bicycles, whose riders are similarly exposed, a biker’s machine is more powerful and much faster. Even when wearing leathers or other protective riding gear, being thrown from your Harley or Honda onto hard pavement at highway speeds can result in life-threatening injuries, sometimes a rider is even killed on the spot.

Motorists also have a hard time identifying motorcycles in traffic. Because of this, a smaller Suzuki or Yamaha two-wheeler can go unnoticed until it’s too late. As a Baltimore injury lawyer, I‘ve read too many time about motorists turning directly in front of a bike in broad daylight only to say they never saw the rider or his bike. That’s a scenario that many riders learn about first hand, and it only takes once to make that point clear.

A recent news reports indicated that a resident of Ann Arundel County pleaded guilty to a charge of negligent homicide in the drunk driving-related traffic accident that killed a Glen Burnie motorcycle rider last summer. The accident happened on Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard last August when a 2004 Acura driven Alida Roxana Holyoke, 27, apparently turned in front of a motorcycle rider causing him to crash, the woman then left the scene of the accident.

Police investigators piecing together the accident scene determined that the rider, William “Shawn” Jacobs, had the right of way when Holyoke turned. The man’s 2008 Harley Davidson hit the side of Holyoke’s car causing the man to be thrown off the bike.

Paramedics responded quickly to the car-motorcycle accident, treating the rider, who investigators discovered had also been drinking that night, then transporting him to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. He never made it to the hospital, suffering a cardiac arrest on the way. He was pronounced dead just after 3am.

A witness to the accident followed the woman, who drove to a local gas station where police eventually caught up to her and took her into custody. At the police station Holyoke’s blood-alcohol content (BAC) was measured at 0.19 percent, more than double the legal limit for driving. At sentencing she could face up to 15 years in jail and a $15,000 fine — however, state guidelines call for probation to two years in prison.

Woman pleads guilty in fatal crash, HometownAnnapolis.com, March 26, 2010

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