Collision that killed mechanic haunts workers KC Harley plant
At Richard Rice’s funeral, 50 Harley riders revved their motorcycles in unison out of respect for their co-worker and fellow rider.
They followed his hearse. They hugged his mother, who was in tears.
“I’d never seen anything like that before,” said Rice’s mother, Rosalee Teters. “Rickey … he never thought he was that important to anyone. He never thought he was special.”
But the 53-year-old was part of the Harley brotherhood, and the others know that what happened to him could have happened to any of them.
Rice was killed July 21 on North Congress Avenue, less than three blocks south of the Harley-Davidson manufacturing plant where he worked in Kansas City, North. He and his co-workers were filing home when, according to Kansas City police, a sport utility vehicle pulled past a stop sign in front of his motorcycle.
The SUV driver told police that her view of Rice, and his of her, were obstructed by another car, but co-workers who were driving alongside Rice point to another reason for the fatality: The SUV driver was using her cell phone. She had just received a call, she told police Officer Ron Reilly, who took the report.
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