UPDATE: Chattanooga police ID motorcyclists killed

Monday, July 30, 2012

Chattanooga police have identified two people who were slain in motorcycle crashes involving tractor-trailers over the weekend.

At 11:30 p.m. Sunday, 24-year-old Brent Taylor was riding a motorcycle when he was killed on Interstate 24 after he attempted to pass a tractor-trailer on the left side. The motorcycle clipped the rear of another vehicle in the left lane and, as a result, the bike crashed and rider was thrown under a tractor-trailer, which ran over his body, according to a statement issued by police spokesman Sgt. Wayne Jefferson.

Police investigated a second crash just after midnight Sunday when another motorcycle attempted to pass a tractor-trailer on Highway 153. Terry Yates, 57, clipped the tractor-trailer while attempting to pass. The motorcycle crashed and Yates was left lying in the left lane, where another motorist struck the rider, Jefferson said.

Yates is a former Chattanooga Police Department officer with 25 years of experience. He retired from the department in 2004.

No charges have been filed in either case and both investigations continue.