Douglas Crow, 57, died after his motorcycle slammed into the back of a vehicle in Boise late Saturday afternoon. Police said the crash happened just before 5 p.m. near South Vista Avenue and West Lemhi Street.
Crow was taken to the hospital after the collision, but he later died there. The driver of the other vehicle was also hospitalized, and police said those injuries were not life-threatening.
The crash is now being measured in the minutes it took to close off part of the street and begin sorting out what happened. Northbound Vista Avenue was shut down from Ona Street to Targee Street for the investigation, cutting through traffic in the area while officers worked at the scene.
The striking fact is that the cause still ends where the report begins: a motorcycle traveling at a high rate of speed into the rear of another vehicle. That tells readers how the crash happened, but not why Crow was moving that fast or what set the chain in motion before impact.
Police identified the only named victim as Crow, who was from Boise, after he was taken to the hospital. The road remained the practical consequence of the wreck, while the unanswered question remains the same one investigators are left with after every fatal crash: what led a rider to strike the back of a vehicle at speed in the first place.
