Motorcycle crash kills carrier Truman sailor - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Motorcycle crash kills carrier Truman sailor

NORFOLK, Va. — The Navy on Thursday confirmed the identity of a Norfolk-based sailor who died Tuesday in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident southeast of Naval Station Norfolk.

Killed was Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Julian Austin Ford, 24, of Danville, Va. Ford was assigned to the carrier Harry S. Truman, to which he’d reported in September 2007, according to Navy Personnel Command.

Ford was driving a 2007 Suzuki GSXR 600 eastbound on Terminal Boulevard, which roughly defines the southern edge of the huge naval complex, according to Norfolk Police. Spokesman Chris Amos said Ford was “weaving in and out of traffic at a high speed.” At just before 2 p.m., Ford lost control, hit the curb and was thrown into a guard rail while the motorcycle continued sliding eastbound along the road.

Ford was taken to Norfolk General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Ford is the Navy’s third reported off-duty motorcycle mishap fatality in fiscal year 2012, which began Oct. 1. Sixteen sailors died in such accidents in all of fiscal year 2011, according to the Naval Safety Center. Twelve of those mishaps involved lightweight, high-speed sport bikes such as the Suzuki GSXR 600.