Police officials have identified the motorcycle rider who died Saturday afternoon in a single-vehicle wreck on a busy two-lane roadway in southeast Ocala.
Officers said the deceased is Nathanael Eli Reynolds of Hernando.
It’s unknown where the 21-year-old man was headed at the time of the crash.
The fatality was the 14th for the city. Ocala police officials said they recorded 16 traffic deaths in 2020. At this time last year, there were 14 deaths.
Authorities said of the 16 fatalities in 2020, three involved motorcycles. So far in 2021, of the 14 fatalities, three were motorcycle related, authorities said.
Reynolds was riding a newer model Yamaha sports bike in the inside lane of Southeast 31st Street by the 700 block when he somehow lost control of the motorcycle while rounding a right-hand curve on the roadway, officers said.
The bike struck a curve and went onto the grassy median. Officials said Reynolds hit a small tree.
Medical personnel attended to Reynolds at the location and he was transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center where he later died. Officers were notified about the crash shortly after 3 p.m.
Witnesses told police it doesn’t appear that Reynolds was speeding. The speed limit on the roadway, which is just yards away from the intersection of Southeast 31st Street and South Pine Avenue, or U.S. 441, is 40 mph.
The crash remains under investigation, police said.
— Contact Austin L. Miller at 867-4118, [email protected] or @almillerosb.
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