A Winnipeg man is dead after a crash involving six motorcycles on a provincial road near Steinbach, Man., RCMP say.
The crash took place Saturday afternoon on Provincial Road 311, near Road 36E, when the motorcycles ran into mud debris on the highway. The driver leading the group lost control and was thrown from his bike onto the road, police said, and was hit by an eastbound pickup truck.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and has been identified by family friends as Denis L’Heureux, who was celebrating his 45th birthday that day. Among the other motorcyclists in the group were his wife and three children.
The riders were participating in a fundraising event, with proceeds going to a local animal shelter.
“It’s a big loss, to (his family) to his friends, anybody who met him,” longtime family friend Jocalyn Houghton told 680 CJOB’s The News.
“He was the kindest person with a big heart and he will be missed very much.”
Houghton said L’Heureux’s daughter, 12, was his passenger at the time of the crash, which she survived without injury. RCMP said the other motorcyclists in the group also lost control in the mud, but were unscathed.
According to Houghton, L’Heureux and his fellow motorcyclists were always very safety-oriented — fully licensed and trained, and focused on obeying traffic laws.
The community, she said, has already been responding to the tragic loss.
“When we found out about it, many people visited the house on Saturday and Sunday, I’m sure there’s going to be more over the next number of months coming in and making sure that they have everything they need, any support that they require.”
Officers from the Steinbach detachment continue to investigate with the help of a forensic collision reconstructionist.