74-Year-Old Man Killed in Smokies Motorcycle Crash

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials say a New York man was killed in a motorcycle crash Saturday morning.

Park rangers and Gatlinburg Fire Department responded to a report of a single motorcycle accident in the park on Little River Road about 2.2 miles west of the intersection with Elkmont Road at 10:20 a.m. on October 7, 2017. A park spokesperson said 74-year-old Jeffrey Breitkopf, of Selden, N.Y., was heading west when he left the roadway and hit a tree before landing in the river approximately 15 feet below the roadway.

Emergency responders and park rangers descended to the river, placed Breitkopf in a rescue basket and carried him up the 15-foot embankment. He was transported by ambulance to LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville at 11:20 a.m., then flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

No additional details were available.

Another motorcycle rider died on the same stretch Little River Road in 2015.