Fort Bliss soldier dies after motorcycle crash in East El Paso
A young Fort Bliss soldier has died after being hospitalized for five days following a motorcycle crash in East El Paso.
Spc. Ethan Harvey Mandel, 20, was mortally injured in an April 5 motorcycle crash on George Dieter Drive near Trawood Drive, according to El Paso police and an online fundraising page set up by family.
“I’m so very sad and sorry tell you that our beautiful boy Ethan lefts us yesterday evening. Our hearts are broken,” a GoFundMe page stated Sunday.
About 1:15 a.m. on April 5, Mandel was riding a 2008 Honda CBR motorcycle southbound on George Dieter Drive at a high speed, police said.
Mandel failed to negotiate a curve, hopped a curb and hit landscaping bushes and rocks on the center median, a police news release stated.
Police said Mandel was thrown from the motorcycle, landing on the northbound lanes of George Dieter. Mandel, who was wearing a helmet, was mortally injured.
Traffic investigators suspect alcohol and speed were factors in the crash.
Mandel, of the 1000 block of Desierto Seco Drive, had been hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Del Sol Medical Center until his death on Saturday evening, police said.
Mandel is at least the third Fort Bliss soldier to die in a motorcycle accident in El Paso this year.
The crash was the 17th traffic-related death in El Paso this year, compared with 21 at this time last year, police officials said.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at 915-546-6102; [email protected]; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.
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