A motorcyclist died and a child was airlifted to a hospital following a crash that involved a passenger car and a motorcycle Thursday evening.
According to a news release issued Friday morning, officers responded to the intersection of Ninth Avenue and Tennant Way at about 6:33 p.m. Thursday.
Arriving at the scene, officers found a passenger vehicle and a motorcycle with significant damage.
The driver of the passenger car, a 24-year-old resident of Longview, did not suffer any injuries, according to the release. However, a 5-year-old passenger was sent to St. John Medical Center and later flown to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland with serious injuries.
The motorcycle had caught fire, and the driver, identified only as a 22-year-old man from Longview, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The identity of the dead motorcyclist is being withheld pending notification of family by the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office.
A witness told police that a motorcyclist was heading west on Tennant Way at a very high rate of speed when he collided with a passenger vehicle that was in the process of making a left turn onto Ninth Avenue.
Friday's news release states a preliminary finding puts the motorcyclist at fault for the crash.
The child was in the rear seat, per a Facebook post on the department's page from Thursday night.
A portion of Tennant Way and Ninth Avenue was closed for some time as Longview police, with the assistance of Washington State Patrol, investigated the incident.
