Motorcyclist Who Died In Crash Is Identified

By Daniela Deane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A motorcyclist who was killed when he swerved off the George Washington Memorial Parkway and tumbled down a steep embankment on Memorial Day was a military policeman who had skirted death in a motorcycle crash last year, his father said yesterday.

Nathan Townsend, who was stationed at Fort Belvoir, would have turned 22 yesterday, his father said. Police found Townsend's body yesterday in a heavily wooded area between the roadway and the Potomac River after an exhaustive search, Steven Townsend said in an interview.

Nathan Townsend, who grew up in Giles County, Tenn., reportedly lost control of the borrowed sports bike he was riding about 6:15 p.m. Monday, a clear, sunny evening. He was "just out having a Memorial Day ride with a friend," his father said.

"His friend told me that Nathan lost control of his bike, that something went wrong with the handlebars," Steven Townsend said from his home in Tennessee.

Battalion Chief Carol Saulnier of the Arlington County Fire Department said Townsend's friend, who was also riding a motorcycle, told authorities that he saw the front wheel of Townsend's bike wobble before his friend veered off the scenic roadway.

Authorities from several agencies mounted a rescue effort as darkness approached. Rescue workers clambered on ladders strung across the embankment, roped down to scour the wooded terrain and used helicopters with heat-seeking equipment to try to locate Townsend. Crews in boats searched the Potomac.

Authorities found the blue bike about three hours after the crash but called off the search about 11:15 p.m. Monday because of darkness and safety hazards. Saulnier said the motorcycle was found about 50 feet beyond the parkway guardrail, on the edge of a 100-foot drop to the river.

"Something could be right in front of you, and you couldn't see it because of the heavy foliage," said Sgt. Robert LaChance, a spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, which polices the parkway, a national park. "The foliage was also interfering with detecting heat."

Townsend's body was found about 6:15 a.m. yesterday, a half-hour after the search resumed, Saulnier said. The body was found about 15 feet from the motorcycle. She said Townsend was thrown from the bike. "If he would've gone a little bit further to the right, he would've ended up in the river," she said. "There are huge drop-offs right there."

LaChance said authorities are investigating the crash.

After the accident Monday, police closed off northbound lanes of the parkway for the rescue effort and reopened them about 9:30 a.m. yesterday. Southbound lanes were also closed after a sport-utility vehicle, whose driver was rubbernecking, rolled over, sending a loose tire into the accident scene. Those lanes were reopened Monday night.

The closures caused major back-ups as travelers returned from the long holiday weekend and went back to work yesterday.

"There was bad traffic, but we have to balance public safety with traffic congestion," LaChance said. "The last thing we want is another serious crash."

Steven Townsend said his son, who was married to his high school sweetheart from Tennessee, had been in a serious motorcycle crash last year in Annandale.

Townsend said his son rear-ended a van that had pulled out in front of him, breaking a leg and an ankle and fracturing several vertebrae in the lower back. He was admitted to Fairfax Inova Hospital and spent time in rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

His father said Nathan Townsend joined the military after graduating from high school and was a member of the Old Guard 289th Military Police Company, which performs a variety of high-profile duties, including escorting the president and guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

Steven Townsend said his only son liked "hunting, fishing, riding horses, shoeing horses. He was a good ol' country boy."

He said that after last year's crash, his son decided not to buy another motorcycle.

"Those sports bikes are just too powerful," Steven Townsend said. "They're too much for anybody to be on the road on. They should only be for racetracks."

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.