FNN Article – Sunday, July 5, 2026. Newest Update Monday, July 6, 2026.
LYCOMING COUNTY, PA – (UPDATE) A fatal motorcycle crash is still under investigation after a 17-year-old Pennsylvania motorcyclist died Saturday afternoon, July 4, 2026, in Pine Township, PA.
Morris fire and EMS crews, as well as, Susquehanna Regional EMS, and Pennsylvania State Police responded immediately to the area of Route 287 approximately two miles north of the intersection of Route 284 for the motorcycle accident where the operator was unresponsive.
CPR was started immediately by a good Samaritan who was traveling with a group who had witnessed the crash. CPR was continued until EMS personnel arrived on scene and took over.
Reports of trees down and lines down in the Morris Township area was reported around the same time that this accident unfolded.
Route 287 was closed down on both ends due to the incident. Also at this time reports were made of multiple trees being down along Route 287.
According to Pennsylvania State Police based in Montoursville, the teenager was traveling south along Route 287 on a 2016 Honda CBR500F when, for unknown reason, he lost control of his motorcycle. The motorcycle went off the right side of the roadway and struck a ditch and then traveled along the embankment before coming to rest laying off the west side of the road.
Police noted that the motorcyclist was thrown from his motorcycle and suffered traumatic injuries. Although the operator was wearing a helmet, he passed away due to his injuries. The Lycoming County Coroner did respond to the scene and pronounced the young man’s death.
According to the police release, the road was dry, there were no road defects observed, and there were no environmental factors identified as contributing to this fatal accident. However, that was just the opposite information that Heather Rolison Wheaton provided FNN about the cause of this crash. Wheaton claimed that the accident was actually caused by a strong storm.
“It (the storm) came on fast, a tree came down right up the road from where he wrecked, at the same time he wrecked. I was on a motorcycle and had just come upon it right after he wrecked,” Wheaton stated.
Wheaton also reported that there was a group of college kids that witnessed the accident and one male performed CPR on the motorcyclist until EMS personnel arrived on scene. The young man doing CPR stated that the motorcycle was only going 15 mph when the strong wind hit and that is when the operator crashed, as a tree came down and struck the van of the party the good Samaritan was with. It was stated that this was a nasty storm and there were multiple trees and power lines were reported down across three different roads. Those three roads were blocked off due to all the storm damage.
Fire and EMS crews were on scene for sometime. PennDOT assisted Morris Fire Police with traffic as crews and state police worked the scene. Freedom Towing was said to have removed the motorcycle from the scene once everyone was released to return back to their stations.
