Two brothers were killed in near simultaneous motorcycle crashes, Maryland Transportation Authority Police said.
Suky Aming Heureaux, 25, and Suky Shamil Heureaux, 24, both of Landover, died of injuries suffered in the crashes Sunday night on Interstate 895, said Cpl. Jonathan Green, a police spokesman.
The agency learned from state police Sunday night that a trooper was following at least one motorcyclist on Interstate 95 who then exited onto I-895. Moments later, transportation authority police received calls from motorists reporting crashes on a highway off-ramp, Green said.
The brothers lost control while trying to negotiate the exit from I-895 and were thrown onto the ground below the elevated ramp, Green said.
A trooper had tried to stop a group of motorcycles after clocking them at 100 miles per hour on northbound I-95 near Route 32. Two pulled over, but the trooper continued after a third with lights and sirens on, said state police spokeswoman Elena Russo.
With the motorcycle weaving in and out of traffic, the trooper lost sight of the motorcyclist before reaching the tunnel, Russo said. Moments later, toll employees told the trooper about two motorcycle crashes about a mile north of the tunnel exit. Police do not know where the other motorcyclist came from, Russo said.
The motorcycle the trooper was trying to stop was later found to have been stolen, Russo said.
State police said the trooper followed the third motorcyclist, but did not engage in a high-speed pursuit.
The trooper, James Davis, did not request permission to initiate a high-speed pursuit and appears to have followed state police policies, state police spokesman Arthur Betts told The Washington Post.
The father of the two brothers, meanwhile, questioned police accounts of the moments leading up to the crash.
"They tell me they were racing, that's all they tell me," Maximo Heureaux, 45, who shared his Landover home with his sons, told The Washington Post. "I don't believe the police; nobody here believes the police. We all need to know what really happened."
the police can expect a lawsuit from the families.
//The brothers lost control while trying to negotiate the exit from I-895 and were thrown onto the ground below the elevated ramp//
One of them was on a stolen machine too.
Many years ago we had a guy from work die the same way (he went over the edge of the guard rails) exiting 101 south going onto Rt 92 merge exit ramp which was the transition onto the San Mateo bridge.
That offramp is pretty high off the ground, at least 60 feet.