Jackson, WY : Los Angeles County Coroner’s lieutenant, killed in motorcycle accident in Wyoming on Sunday, July 27, 2014

A Whittier resident who worked as a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner was killed in a multiple-vehicle crash in Wyoming over the weekend.

Three people were also injured in the collision.

Coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter said Lt. Joseph Bale, 52, was riding with a group of motorcycle officers from various law enforcement jurisdictions and was en route to the annual Sturgis Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.

The fatal collision happened on Highway 89, about six miles south of Jackson, Wyoming at 12:50 p.m. Sunday.

Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Kelly said the northbound traffic stopped because a vehicle was going to make a left turn to an access road to the river.

Two cars, which included a 2007 Audi A4, were stopped behind that vehicle.

Kelly said four motorcyclists came upon the stopped traffic.

To avoid the Audi A4, one of the motorcyclists, Bale, tried to go around the car and went left, according to Kelly.

But he said the motorcycle hit the left rear of the Audi and Bale was thrown to the ground.

“Apparently, a second motorcyclist attempted the same maneuver,” Kelly said.

Wyoming Highway Patrol Sgt. David Wagener said the second motorcyclist veered to the left and collided head-on with a Kia Optima in the southbound lane.

Bale was pronounced dead at the scene.

Wagener said the second motorcyclist, 36-year-old Romulo Magahaes of Fortaleza, Brazil, was injured and taken to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson. His current condition wasn’t known Monday.

The driver of the Kia, 66-year-old Linda Farrag, and her passenger, 70-year-old Jane Long, were also transported to St. John’s Medical Center where they were treated and released, according to Wagener. He said both women are from Cohasset, Massachusetts.

Wagener said the man driving the Audi, 31-year-old David Johnson of Blackfoot, Idaho, wasn’t injured.

Bale is survived by his mother, his brothers and sisters, and his nieces and nephews. Services are pending.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Source :
Joseph Bale, Los Angeles County Coroner’s lieutenant, killed in motorcycle accident in Wyoming