GRAHAM COUNTY, AZ : Man injured in Route 266 motorcycle accident on Saturday, October, 21st 2017

An emergency Spot beacon in his bunk may have saved a man injured in a weekend motorcycle accident on State Route 266.

According to a Graham County Sheriff’s Office report, on Saturday, Oct. 21 a Michigan man named Douglas Phelan was airlifted from his campsite on the highway to Banner University Medical Center in Tucson. Phelan reportedly told Sheriff’s deputies that, after crashing his motorcycle the day before, he rode back to his camper trailer and fell asleep.

Phelan reportedly said that when he woke up, he was unable to move due to the pain. Though his cell phone was out of reach, the Spot beacon lay in the bunk next to him and he was able to press its SOS signal.

Deputies traced the signal to Phelan’s campsite, along 266 near Gillespie Wash, and heard him calling for help from the trailer. Lifeline Ambulance was called to the scene, and paramedics advised evacuating Phelan to UMC.

The ambulance took Phelan, who reportedly said he had no family in the area, to a landing zone set up by Sheriff’s officers near the Gillespie Wash turnoff, and an Air Evac helicopter transferred him to Tucson.

In a Sunday morning phone conversation, Phelan reportedly told a deputy that his clavicle, wrist, ribs and leg had been fractured and that he was awaiting results of an MRI on his back. There was no further word on his condition. His camper trailer and two motorcycles were taken to the Graham County Highway Yard for safekeeping.


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Man injured in Route 266 motorcycle accident