Durham: Lorenzo Wiley, 25, killed after motorcycle hits I-85 guardrail, police say

In Durham, Lorenzo Wiley, 25, died after a motorcycle hit a guardrail on Interstate 85 early Friday, according to the city's police force as reported by CBS 17 and The News & Observer.

WRAL's later page still calls the vehicle a moped. It still omits his name.

What the later accounts say

CBS 17, in a rewrite modified at 10:03 a.m., and the newspaper, posted at 9:59 a.m., both said he was on a 2019 Suzuki GSX-S750 heading south near Hillandale Road. Shortly after 2 a.m., those pages wrote, he lost control, ran off the right side, and struck the rail on the right shoulder. He was pronounced dead there.

CBS 17 added that a preliminary inquiry showed he left the pavement at a left curve and crossed over the on-ramp before hitting that rail. The newspaper skipped the curve.

The newspaper added that the Suzuki was white and that he crossed onto the southbound on-ramp from Hillandale Road. CBS 17 skipped the color and that extra street phrase.

Both later pages wrote that speed is believed to be a factor and that the inquiry is still open. WRAL printed neither the speed line nor the Suzuki.

What WRAL still reports

WRAL, last stamped about 8:28 a.m. Eastern, put the wreck around 2:20 a.m. at the ramp that meets Croasdaile Drive near Hillandale. It wrote that the first department release described a hit-and-run call involving a man on a moped, and that investigators at the scene later told the station they were treating it as a single-vehicle crash.

That page said lanes there opened near 8 a.m. It also said EMS pronounced the man dead, and that its tracker arrived about 3:30 a.m. and saw a body next to a moped.

The first CBS 17 version

The same CBS 17 URL, at 6:04 a.m., had described an adult male killed in a hit-and-run involving a moped at approximately 2:22 a.m. southbound near the Hillandale exit, with officers finding the rider beside the crashed machine. The rewritten page no longer carries that wording.

No written city news flash has turned up on the department's CivicAlerts list. Later loads of that index returned 403.

The ramp

NCDOT Triangle posted that every lane was shut on the connector from Croasdaile Drive to I-85 south at U.S. 501 because of a crash, incident 26103000004. DriveNC carried the same wording, with a start time of 5:10 a.m. Friday and a last update at 6:09 a.m.

The same NCDOT account also posted a "Cleared" line for that incident at 4:28 a.m. A later Friday-morning load of the DriveNC event address returned "item not found." WRAL's 8 a.m. reopen line is the only clock we have for cars moving again. Check DriveNC or 511 before you travel.

What we don't know yet

The pages we read leave unexplained why WRAL still describes a moped after the later rewrite. They also leave open whether anyone else was hurt, or whether speed will be confirmed.

Timeline

• Friday, Oct. 30, in the 2 a.m. hour: The two later pages, citing the department, time Wiley losing control near Hillandale.
• About 2:20 a.m.: WRAL times a moped wreck at Croasdaile Drive.
• About 2:22 a.m.: CBS 17's first version used this clock for a hit-and-run moped.
• 3:30 a.m. hour: WRAL's tracker sees him beside the moped it described.
• 4:28 a.m.: NCDOT Triangle posts a cleared notice for incident 26103000004.
• 5:10 a.m.: DriveNC lists that Croasdaile approach as closed; a 6:09 a.m. update still showed that closure.
• About 8 a.m.: WRAL writes that the ramp was open again.
• 9:59 a.m. and 10:03 a.m.: The newspaper and CBS 17 name Wiley and the Suzuki.

What happens next

The department is still investigating. Triangle Local is not Durham's police force. CBS 17 listed Inv. E. Gonzalez or Inv. A. Roberts at 984-259-4550. WRAL listed 919-560-4925, extension 29410. Those two numbers do not match. Anonymous tips can go to Durham CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. If anyone is in danger, call 911.

Photos

Text-only. No outlet or department photos are used here.