Dallas accident adds to ongoing motorcade motorcycle mishaps
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 | Written by Digits | |
Another Dallas motorcycle officer was injured during a high-level police escort on Monday as President Obama visited the well-known Texas City.
Not only does yesterday’s accident follow an incident Vice President Biden in New York last week, the motorcycle mishap echoes a more deadly event two years ago when Obama’s then presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Dallas on the campaign trail.
The most recent incident occurred at 4pm Monday afternoon when the officer lost control of his motorcycle exiting a toll road and flipping on a median. The officer, Senior Cpl. Michael Manis, a nine-year veteran, was listed in good condition at Parkland Hospital and was to stay overnight for observation.
The presidential motorcade was heading to a Democratic Party fundraiser.
Yesterday’s accident ended better than the February 2008 visit paid by then presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Senior Cpl. Victor Lozada, 49, was one of more than 30 motorcycle officers and was killed as he failed to negotiate a curve and slammed into a concrete guardrail.
While a motorcade may be a spectacular event to watch, it can be deadly for the law officials acting as motorcycle escorts.
But the art of the motorcade is a complex set of maneuvers requiring each motorcycle officer to overtake the motorcade at speeds up to 70 mph, slingshot ahead of it and then stop abruptly at an intersection before the caravan arrives.
Monday’s incident leaves President Obama sharing an unpleasant event with his predecessor, President George W. Bush. In 2006 three Honolulu police motorcycles were involved in an accident while escorting President George W. Bush's motorcade to Hickam Air Force Base. A year later a police officer died in Albuquerque New Mexico after crashing his motorcycle while riding in a motorcade escorting President Bush following a fundraiser for a local politician.
Linear Mode
