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August 20, 2007

Chatsworth man killed in collision

Misty Watson

CHATSWORTH — A Chatsworth man was killed Monday afternoon when the motorcycle he was riding “basically exploded” after colliding with a pickup truck on Fort Mountain, a state trooper said.

Jonathan Allen Alderete, 23, of Emerald Parkway, died of massive head and body injuries after being taken to Murray Medical Center, said senior trooper Gary Langford with the Georgia State Patrol.

Alderete was driving his motorcycle down the mountain at a “very high rate of speed” when he lost control and the motorcycle went into the other lane, striking the pickup truck on the front left wheel, Langford said.

“The motorcycle basically exploded when the truck hit it,” he said. “It’s unreal. I’ve never seen a motorcycle explode like this. It was like a bomb went off.”

Alderete was wearing proper motorcycle attire, including a helmet and leather, when he wrecked, Langford said.

Alderete was traveling down the mountain with another motorcyclist. Langford believes Alderete was trying to catch up to the other driver when he wrecked.

Both motorcycle drivers were reported to have been driving at high speeds.

“We had a witness say that they had passed a car several miles back — on a double yellow line,” Langford said.

“We have a bad problem on the mountain with (motorcycle drivers traveling at dangerously high rates of speed) and it was just a matter of time before something like this happened,” he said.

No other injuries were reported.

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