A Georgia biker escaped serious injury and narrowly missed falling into the Halifax River Saturday by jumping off his motorcycle that was left dangling at the end of a rising half of the Main Street drawbridge in Daytona Beach.
A video recording by cameras at the bridge released by Volusia County officials on Monday shows Mark Allen Hagen, 50, of Metter, Georgia, who was in Daytona Beach for Bike Week, jumping off the motorcycle and falling onto the metal grating of the drawbridge.
Daytona Beach Police said Hagen told them he did not see the lowered arms of the drawbridge because of the rain.
Reached by telephone on Monday, a woman who addressed Hagen as “honey” asked the reporter to be patient as Hagen was slow moving. She initially asked Hagen to talk to a reporter, but when the reporter identified himself, she then said “I don’t want to talk to you. We are not giving any (comment). Goodbye.”
Mark Allen Hagen is seen swerving as he jumped off the motorcycle
On Saturday, Hagen’s 2008 Honda motorcycle, which was pulling a utility trailer, went over the the rising west side half of the Main Street Bridge. But the motorcycle did not fall into the river as the trailer got stuck on the bridge, according to Daytona Beach Police.
In the video recording, the arms of the drawbridge can be seen coming down with flashing lights in the rain. Shortly after they were down, Hagen’s motorcycle is seen crashing through one lowered arm, as he headed east on Main Street and toward the bridge plank that was starting to rise.
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The motorcycle jumps onto the rising metal grating and then Hagen is seen swerving as he jumped off the motorcycle.
In a crash report, Daytona Beach Police noted that Hagen told them he was wiping rain off his helmet’s face shield and did not see the lowered arms of the bridge.
“V-1 (Hagen’s motorcycle) was pulling a trailer and was suspended in the air by the trailer hitch,” police wrote in the report.
Police said Hagen suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to Halifax Health Medical Center for treatment.
The crash closed off the Main Street Bridge from 9:51 a.m. to 12:33 p.m., giving Volusia County staff time to repair the arm and inspect the bridge, Daytona Beach Police said. Hagen’s motorcycle sustained $5,000 in damages, police said.
Hagen was charged with careless driving that carries a $166 fine.
