A 59-year-old Grays Harbor County man was killed when his motorcycle collided on Friday afternoon along southbound State Route 167 near Southwest 43rd Street (South 180th Street) near the Renton-Kent border, according to the Washington State Patrol.
Darren L. Dyer, of Grayland, reportedly made an unsafe lane change from lane three to four directly in front of a black 2016 Ford F250 pickup when not reasonably safe for traffic conditions, according to a State Patrol press memo. Dyer died at the scene.
The driver of the pickup, a 35-year-old Auburn man, was unable to slow and struck the rear of the motorcycle, a gold 2003 Harley Davidson FLHRSEI-1. The collision ejected Dyer who landed in lane four. The motorcycle slid across the roadway and struck in lane two a light green 2018 Hyundai Kona driven by a 64-year-old Kent woman. The drivers of the pickup and Hyundai were not injured.
The crash occurred at about 2 p.m. The roadway was blocked for approximately three hours.
“According to witnesses, the motorcycle made an abrupt lane change in front of a large pickup in the HOV lane that was pulling a trailer and was struck and then struck another vehicle,” according to State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson.
This marked the fifth motorcyclist death in the last four months in the Kent area. Three of the deaths were along Highway 167.
• On June 6, Dylan A. Hague, 28, of Kent, was killed when his motorcycle crashed into the back of a construction truck setting signage just after midnight along Highway 167 in Kent.
• On June 7, a 36-year-old San Jose, Calif., man died after his motorcycle crashed at about 3:55 p.m. while northbound on Highway 167 in Pacific (south of Kent) near the Ellingson Road exit, according to the Washington State Patrol.
• On June 28, Sergey Pavlovich, 18, of Kent, died of multiple blunt force injury when he collided with a Kent Police SUV in the 13700 block of Southeast 256th Street.
• On Oct. 2, Karrell Taylor, 23, died when his motorcycle collided with a truck in Kent near the intersection of Willis Street and Washington Avenue South, just north of LA Fitness.
