A motorcyclist from Salem died Tuesday morning, July 18, in a collision with a log truck, according to Oregon State Police.
On July 18, 2017, at about 10:30 a.m., OSP troopers and Sweet Home emergency personnel responded to the report of a two-vehicle crash on Highway 20 near milepost 34.5, a mile and a half east of Quartzville Road.
According to OSP, preliminary investigation revealed that a 2015 BMW motorcycle, operated by John Harvey Weeks, 65, of Salem, was traveling eastbound on Highway 20 east of Sweet Home when for unknown reasons, the motorcycle veered into the oncoming lane and struck a 2016 Kenworth log truck operated by Kenneth Keil Reynolds, 59, of Sweet Home, which was traveling westbound.
The BMW ran into the side of the Kenworth.
Weeks suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene. Reynolds was not injured.
A witness stated that Weeks was possibly looking over his shoulder behind him while negotiating the curve.
Weeks was a former North Bend High School athletic director and Siuslaw High School principal. He also served as an administrator at Sprague High School and in the Salem-Keizer School District, according to The World newspaper in Coos Bay.
Highway 20 was closed for approximately three hours following the crash.
An investigation is ongoing and more information will be released when available, an OSP report said.