Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel from the Curry County Sheriff’s Office, Gold Beach Police Department, Gold Beach Fire Department, Pistol River Fire Department, and Oreogon Department of Transportation responded to reports of a vehicle crash on Hwy 101, near the Pistol River Scenic Viewpoint at approximately 11:30am Thursday morning, June 24th.
Preliminary investigation revealed that 29 year old James Rice of Brookings was operating a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle north bound on Hwy. 101 when he struck another also northbound vehicle.
The motorcycle struck an Infiniti QX60, also traveling north and operated by 43 year old Brecken Watterson of Cedar Park, TX. who was turning left into a viewpoint off of Hwy 101.
Watterson and the 4 juvenile passengers in the Infiniti QX60 were not injured, however, James Rice unfortunately sustained fatal injuries, and was pronounced deceased according to the Oregon State Police press release.
