Kasey E. Frye Memorial Benefit Ride
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On February 3rd, 2008, Kasey E. Frye, 21, was involved in a fatal motorcycle accident. Traveling North on College Hill Drive located on East Carolina University’s campus, Kasey, clocked at 74.2 miles per hour, collided with an orange Ford Escape who pulled an illegal u-turn ultimately taking Kasey’s life.
Traveling to join the Superbowl Sunday festivities with his friends, Kasey did not pay attention to speed limits set for the campus’s streets crowded with young students from all over the country while the students driving the SUV did not pay attention to local traffic laws.
Since Kasey suffered from hemophilia, a disease where the blood does not clot, his survival chances were extremely minimized. With almost no chance of survival, Kasey was reported to not have suffered from his accident since he died about 45 seconds after impact. Although the family did not wish to have an autopsy done, it is reported that Kasey suffered severe internal injuries in his brain and abdomen. This is result of Kasey not strapping his helmet securely due to the pain and bruising it caused him from his Hemophilia. If Kasey had strapped his helmet securely, he might have had a chance at living a healthy life.
While no one witnessed the accident, ECU provided video footage of the accident from cameras positioned at the top of the light posts on College Hill Drive. The video has not been released to the family who is currently trying to achieve custody of it but we know of its existence from Kasey’s best friend’s father, Kevin Wilson, a Greenville Sherriff.
The Greenville Police Department analyzed and reviewed the footage and clocked Kasey driving down College Hill at 74.2 miles per hour. Since they could only obtain small frames of the accident, the entire accident cannot be analyzed. They have concluded that when Kasey realized that the SUV was making a u-turn, he “panic braked”. This means that Kasey pressed the brake so hard that the back tired locked up. Kasey flew over the front end of the motorcycle into the side of the SUV. Kasey was found lying unconscious under the SUV next the back left tire.
To remember the life of Kasey Frye, his friends from Hickory and Greenville, North Carolina banded together to form a memorial ride in his honor. They designed and sold t-shirts for girls and guys with pictures of him, his birth and death dates and his favorite quotes. The shirts were sold to raise money to assist the family with funeral costs. Decal stickers were also designed that consisted of a motorcycle in mid-wheelie with his name, death and birth dates. The shirts were sold for 20 dollars and the decals were sold for 30.
The family and friends of Kasey Frye created Facebook groups in his memory. Both groups “In loving memory of Kasey Frye” and “RIP Kasey Frye” asked for donations for the family and advertised the benefit ride to remember their friend.
To advertise the benefit ride around town, Kasey’s friends and family came together to create donation proposal letters asking for generous donations and flyers advertising the ride. The flyers included simple information of what, when, where and why while the donation letters provided specific information as to why the group wanted to do such a great thing in honor of their friend. These letters were distributed to local businesses such as Hooters, Finelli’s Café, Logan’s and Jiffy Lube.
On March 1st, 2008, the memorial ride began at 10:15 am and lasted about half an hour. Registration began at 9:30 am costing 10 dollars a rider. 32 bikes and seven cars registered for the ride. Ron Ayers Motorsports, the host of the ride, provided lunch and a place for the group to remember their friend. Police escorts accompanied the riders by blocking intersections and providing safety for all the riders.
The route went from Ron Ayers Motorsports down Memorial BLVD to Fire Tower Road to Portertown Road to Highway 264 back to Ron Ayers Motorsports. Passing cars respected the ride by pulling over on the side of the road until all the bikes had passed.
The ride also included door prizes and drawings for donated gifts from random businesses located around Greenville such as Ron Ayers Motorsports, Jiffy Lube and Hooters. The 50/50 drawing was a drawing that gave half the money to the family and half the money to the winner. Luckily, Kasey’s grandfather won the 50/50 drawing totaling 75 dollars while ultimately 500 dollars was donated to Kasey’s parents.
The door prizes included three 50 wing coupons from Hooters, three free oil changes from Jiffy Lube, a free helmet donated from Ron Ayers, a Harley Davidson sweatshirt and a Harley Davidson wall clock.
Before the ride took place, the group leader and best friend of Kasey Frye, Kacey Wilson, read a motorcycle’s prayer. For about five minutes, about 100 people hung their heads to remember their friend in silence while the prayer was read aloud.
WNCT News Channel 9 also participated in the memorial ride. Arthur Mondale, a first year general assignment reporter reported on the benefit ride for a six o’clock airing. He interviewed Kasey Wilson, Colby Young, Maria Anderson, Wyatt Yelverton and Hamad Aholic. He set up his camera and was very helpful in getting the point across to the Greenville community: be cautious on the road.
After Kasey’s death, many things changed for his friends and family he left behind. Before the accident, Kasey and his friends rode their motorcycles with no care in the world. Performing stunts such as wheelies and riding at top speeds, they feared no danger. After the accident, things changed.
With the loss of their friend, riding safely and cautiously was a top concern. Since the love of riding will never die, Kasey’s friends took this lesson to ride within the speed limit and only perform dangerous stunts under supervision and in private areas with no oncoming traffic.
Since the accident, specific riding positions have been put in place while riding in a group. Kasey Wilson has been designated as the group leader and Jonathon Anderson follows up the tail so safe riding is executed at all times.
Riding a motorcycle or any vehicle for that matter is taking a risk with your life but besides taking that risk, the group executes safety and alertness while on the streets. The group has made it an effort to not take risks for the safety of their lives and the safety of other drivers on the road.
Another reason the friends and family of Kasey wanted to have the memorial ride was to advertise motorcycle or vehicle safety at all times in local communities. They want to get across that we need to be aware of all vehicles and pedestrians on the streets.
They now know that anything can happen at any time so being cautious and alert may prevent a freak accident. Speeding puts other people in danger so following the speed limit not only protects your life but protects others.
Traffic laws have been put in place to protect all drivers on the road so obey them and you might save someone’s life. When riding a motorcycle, always wear your protective gear correctly to prevent death or serious injuries.
Many people ask the group why they still ride motorcycles if it is so dangerous and life threatening. As a group of close friends, they still ride because they believe it is what Kasey would want them to do. Riding was Kasey’s passion and for them to give it up would let him down. Even though there are so many risks involved, “Riding is not our hobby, it’s our way of life.” – Kasey E. Frye.
Filed under: Convergent Community News, Spring 2008