I think it’s charitable to say that, for many people, the terrible decision they make deciding to run away from a crash can be best explained by panic. I suspect that’s what’s going on in this insane situation, where sheer panic has made this driver decide to try and haul ass away from a hit-and-run with an entire motorcycle jammed into the front of their minivan. That, or being an unrepentant dick. I’ll hope it’s the former.
This story was originally published on June 22, 2020
This happened Friday evening in Corona, California, on the 91 Freeway. I’ll also mention that, thankfully, the motorcycle rider only sustained minor injuries, with the wreck flinging him off his Honda CBR and onto the shoulder. I can’t decide if that makes him incredibly lucky, or if getting whacked by a Honda Odyssey in the first place negates all the luck?
Video captured by Will Panda shows the whole insane event, which includes a massive, festive plume of sparks as the Odyssey shoves that motorcycle down the highway:
Aside from the sparks, the pair actually seem to be going along remarkably well in their connected state, which I attribute to cross-product-platform compatibility from Honda’s engineers. If Honda was considering making some sort of official Odyssey-as-sidecar mount for their CBRs, this would be a good early test run.
Panda’s video shows the motorcycle ditched by the side of the road, along with the Odyssey’s front bumper:
...and, not far away, the rest of the Odyssey was spotted, abandoned:
KTLA 5 in Los Angeles reports that the suspected hit-and-run driver, 25 year-old George Cesar Valentin, later attempted to report the minivan as stolen, which would seem to be part of an attempted ploy to hide his involvement, especially since Valentin later confessed to driving the van.
Yes, it can make for luridly fascinating video, but running from a crash is never a good idea.