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Man accused of crashing into motorcyclist, fleeing scene during Bike Week

Suspect remains in jail

John Phillips (Volusia County Jail)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A man hit a motorcyclist in Daytona Beach during Bike Week then drove off without stopping to provide any help, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Troopers said the crash happened March 11 at 6 p.m. on International Speedway Boulevard when John Phillips, 51, hit the motorcycle from behind in his Dodge pickup truck.

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Records show Phillips was stopped about 1.5 miles away from the crash scene and said the vehicle in front of him changed lanes and then he saw the motorcycle in front of him and had no time to stop before rear-ending it near Brick Road.

The report doesn’t indicate how many people were on the motorcycle or the extent of any injuries suffered.

Witnesses who saw the crash said Phillips threw a white object from his window, which was later located and determined to be a sock with multiple pipes inside, according to the affidavit.

He was arrested on a charge of leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury.

Numbers released by Halifax Health show there was a record number of trauma patients during this year’s Bike Week celebration, which ran from March 5 through March 14.

In that same 10-day period, 150 trauma patients were received by Halifax Health, hospital officials said. Of those admissions, numbers show 91 were related to Bike Week, compared to an average of 62 admissions over the last four years.

Hospital officials said the trauma team was activated 97 times in the 10-day period, 74 times for Bike Week-related incidents. Of the patients admitted during that time, 80 of them were motorcycle crash-related, 14 of them were motorcycle passengers, and just under half of them were wearing helmets, according to the data.


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