A motorcyclist suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to Charlotte on Tuesday after losing control near a toll-lane divider on northbound Interstate 77 in Iredell County, shutting down the highway for more than an hour during the morning commute.
According to the Mooresville Tribune, state troopers responded to the crash near the Williamson Road exit on I-77. The motorcyclist had been traveling north when the rider moved into the toll lanes to pass another vehicle, then attempted to return to the general-purpose lanes, per Trooper Zachariah. The motorcycle struck a toll-lane divider, and the rider was ejected into the toll lanes before the bike continued north and came to rest in the middle general-purpose lane, the newspaper reported.
The motorcyclist was flown by a MedCenter Air helicopter to Carolina Medical Center in Charlotte with serious injuries, according to the Mooresville Tribune. WXII reported that the North Carolina Highway Patrol would withhold the rider's identity until next of kin had been notified.
Rider's Condition and Identity
Other outlets covering the northbound I-77 motorcycle crash in Iredell County reported additional details. According to WXII, the driver was airlifted by MedCenter Air to CMC-Main Hospital with serious injuries, and authorities said the driver's identity would not be released until next of kin had been notified about the driver's condition.
WSOC reported that the rider died after being airlifted to the hospital and identified him as 41-year-old Hernan Gonzalo Morris Diaz. WSOC also reported that the highway patrol said the motorcyclist entered the toll lanes to pass another vehicle and hit a delineator while trying to re-enter the general-purpose lanes — language similar to the Mooresville Tribune's account of a toll-lane divider strike. The Charlotte Observer reported that the rider was ejected from the motorcycle.
Timeline Discrepancies on Crash and Reopening
Reports also diverge on timing. WXII put the crash at around 8:10 a.m., while WBTV placed it around 8:15 a.m., describing the wreck as occurring on I-77 North just past Exit 32 to Langtree Road. WXII reported that the northbound lanes were closed for over an hour while troopers investigated, consistent with the hour-plus closure described by the Mooresville Tribune.
Accounts also differ on when the highway reopened. WBTV reported all lanes were back open by 9:30 a.m., while the Yahoo News report said the road reopened to traffic around 9:15 a.m. Neither the exact crash time nor the reopening time has been independently confirmed across all accounts.
Separate Fatal Crash on Southbound I-77
The conflicting reports come amid other motorcycle crash coverage along the same Lake Norman-area corridor. QC News reported on a separate crash in the southbound toll lane of I-77, in which a rider on a 2004 Kawasaki motorcycle reportedly experienced an apparent tire failure, lost control and overturned; that rider died at the scene, according to the outlet.
The Charlotte Observer reported that the rider, 41-year-old Hernan Gonzalo Morris Diaz, died after trying to pass another vehicle in the toll lane on northbound I-77 near Lake Norman on Tuesday. This was the same northbound crash in which the rider was airlifted and later died.
