Two Stanwood motorcyclists tangle with a deer

Former Stanwood/ Camano NEWS employee Becky Murphy and her husband Mike were involved in a motorcycle accident about 1 p.m. last Wednesday.

The two were headed home on day five of a five-day ride, riding toward Arlington on SR 530, Murphy said.

They were within 45 minutes of Stanwood when a young deer leapt in front of 66-year-old Mike’s Yamaha.

“He barely had time to hit his breaks before broadsiding the deer,” Murphy said.

She watched her husband come off the bike and skid across the pavement.

“I was behind and to his right, and immediately hit my breaks when I saw the deer,” she added.

Unfortunately, Mike’s skid took him into Murphy’s Honda.

“I was barely going by that point,” she said, but even so, her bike fell over on top of her husband.

Murphy, uninjured, said a passerby, who happened to be a nurse, stopped and helped her get the bike off Mike, who sustained multiple injuries. Two other motorists, also in the medical profession, stopped as well.

Murphy said emergency response crews worked on Mike for “quite a while” before transporting him to Cascade Valley Hospital. Eventually, he was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center.

Mike’s right shoulder, right ankle and left wrist were all operated on. His shoulder injury was the most serious of the lot.

Both Murphy and her husband were wearing helmets, and Murphy said they had received reports of deer and were watching closely for the animals. This one, however, simply jumped out too suddenly for Mike to react.

“The good news,” Murphy said, “is that he will be OK. It’s just going to take a while. The young deer didn’t make it.”

Staff Reporter Jeremiah O’Hagan: 629-8066 ext. 125 or ohagan@scnews. com.