Motorcyclist loses part of leg after crash near Modesto’s McHenry Village

A motorcyclist lost part of his leg after he collided with a vehicle entering McHenry Village on Wednesday afternoon.

The accident occurred east of the Briggsmore Avenue-McHenry Avenue intersection at about 3:25 p.m.

A Toyota Highlander was at a stop sign in the break in the Briggsmore median that allows motorists to enter the shopping center on its north side, said Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Heather Graves.

The female driver, whose identity was not available from police, pulled into the eastbound lanes of Briggsmore and into the path of the motorcyclist, Graves said.

He was thrown from his motorcycle and hit a Toyota Camry before landing on the hood of a Nissan Sentra. Both were parked in a lot on the north side of the center facing Briggsmore.

The cyclist’s leg was severed about midway down, Graves said. His motorcycle remained in the closed eastbound lanes of Briggsmore, and he hit the parked vehicles hard enough to damage them.

The identity of the cyclist also was not available. The man, who was wearing a helmet, was conscious as emergency medical responders treated him at the scene before taking him by ambulance to a hospital. The driver of the Toyota and a passenger with her were not injured.

Eastbound traffic on Briggsmore was shut down for more than hour as authorities investigated.

Ron David, owner of the store David & David Home in the Village, was among several businesspeople and customers at the accident scene. “We’ve had crosses out here for people killed in crashes” where drivers can pull into the Village from Briggsmore, he said.

“More people come in here than from McHenry,” he added, saying business owners long have asked the city to put in a traffic signal there. He estimated there’s a bad crash at the north entrance every three months or so.

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Motorcyclist loses part of leg after crash near Modesto’s McHenry Village."