DeKalb County emergency personnel worked a deadly motorcycle crash last Saturday evening on Dale Ridge Road (Highway 96).  The victim in the one-vehicle crash was transported by DeKalb EMS to a Lifeflight air ambulance and flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, but he would succumb to his injuries.

According to Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Mitchell Gibbs, 61-year-old William Couch of Hermitage man was riding a Kawasaki 650 when he lost control near the mile marker nine on Highway 96 at around 4:46 p.m. The bike went off the road, struck an embankment and came to rest partially in the highway and a ditch.

Authorities say Couch was wearing his helmet, and was found lying near the motorcycle. Couch had been on the bike alone, but his riding partner on another motorcycle ahead of him, turned around and discovered the crash after he glanced back and didn’t see Couch.