Archived Outdoors

Motorcycle accident results in fatality

Written by
Wednesday, July 01, 2020

A motorcycle fatality occurred on Newfound Gap Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, June 22. 

Phillip Rath, 69, of Schoolcraft, Michigan, was traveling north on the road when his motorcycle crossed the center line and struck a Honda Odyssey that was traveling south near the Chimney Tops Trailhead. 

Smokies park rangers and Gatlinburg Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene, but Rath was unresponsive and pronounced dead as a result of his injuries at 6:13 p.m. No one else was injured as a result of the accident. 

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