Crime & Safety
Motorcyclist Killed in Crash With Car
Man chased by Seal Beach motor officer at up to 100 mph down Pacific Coast Highway into Long Beach, where he fatally crashed with a car.
A motorcyclist who led a policeman on a high-speed chase on Pacific Coast Highway from Seal Beach crashed and was killed in Long Beach, police in both cities said Wednesday.
Joshua Morrison-Conrad, 26, of Long Beach, crashed with an Acura carrying a Signal Hill mother, 45, and her 8-year-old daughter; the two car occupants were not injured, said Long Beach police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt. She said he died of his injuries at the hospital later that day. It was not immediately known the cyclist's speed at the time of the crash.
The fatal crash occurred about 7:40 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17, on Pacific Coast Highway just west of Channel Drive. (Long Beach Police Department apologized for the delay of the information's release.
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Preceding the crash was a police chase. Seal Beach Police Sgt. Steve Bowles said a motor officer spotted the motorcycle headed northbound on P.C.H. through Old Town Seal Beach "at a high rate of speed, and recklessly."
By the time officer was able to get behind the motorcyclist, he was near Loynes and P.C.H. in Long Beach. The officer tried to make a traffic stop with lights and siren but the cycle did not stop. Instead, Bowles said the motorcyclist turned East from P.C.H. onto Loynes, sped up more on what is a notoriously hilly road, and the officer chased him until Studebaker Road, when the motorcyclist revved up to 100 m.p.h. Bowles said the officer turned off his sirens and lights and slowed down, but still followed the motorcycle.
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He saw the motorcyclist basically drive in a square now, turning right on Westminster Avenue, right again on P.C.H. at In-N-Out Burger, and then lost sight of him he was moving so fast. As the officer proceeded the same direction Bowles said, he headed north past Loynes, heading toward Seventh Street. Before Seventh, just past Channel, the officer saw that the collision occurred, and contacted his dispatch to contact LBPD.
Bowles said he did not know whether the motor officer had previously alerted Long Beach of the racing motorcyclist.
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