Referring to the dead bikers, he said “Hope these guys were the ones with the loudest mufflers.”
Even you can extrapolate his meaning.
He expressed a hope that the dead bikers were also the ones with the loudest mufflers.
Don’t try and game me.
That was his plain and clear meaning.
“He expressed a hope that the dead bikers were also the ones with the loudest mufflers.”
They were already dead. You can’t wish someone dead when they are already dead ...