Man injured in motorcycle crash
Jason Shueh/Valley Press Plains Ambulance crews strap motorcyclist Al Nicholson to a spine board and check the lacerations he received on his head.
A motorcyclist was severely injured last Friday when he skidded off the road heading southbound on Highway 28 four miles from Plains.
Highway Patrol Officer Roman Zylawy reported that Al Nicholson, the motorcyclist, suffered deep head lacerations and might have broken a few ribs but said that this has not been confirmed officially. Zylawy also said that an Alert Flight helicopter took Nicholson to Kalispell Regional Hospital where he was released over the weekend.
Nicholson was accompanied by two other riders, by Mark Payne, from Columbia Falls and by his brother Michael Payne, from Bismarck, Ill., Neither Mark nor Michael saw the crash but said that they were traveling around 60 miles per hour down the highway when they looked back and couldn’t see Nicholson.
“I turned around after I reached the first house on the left and went back looking for him,” Michael said. When the two brothers found Nicholson they said he had been pinned down by the motorcycle and was lying in the gravel near a fallen tree he had dragged with him about 50 feet.
“I couldn’t get his neck out from under the handlebars and the fuel tank,” Mark said, remembering the weight of the motorcycle. Mark explained that they had to wait for other drivers to stop so that they could lift the motorcycle off of Nicholson’s neck. Zylawy said that the cause of the accident did not appear to be alcohol or drug related but was due to inattentive or careless driving.
Mark said that the group was headed toward Thompson Falls to meet with a friend for lunch before heading back to Columbia Falls. Upon surveying the motorcycles gravel skid marks Mark said that Nicholson might have been cartwheeling his bike before he finally crashed.
“I hope it’s better than what it looks like,” Mark said.
The crash site on H-28 is said to be known locally as Baker’s Grave and has been known for its infamous collection of accidents.
“We get a lot of wrecks here in the winter and in the summer time,” Zylawy said and added that there was a rollover in the same area just two weeks before. Two metal crosses also mark the spot where Nicholson skidded off of the road.