Their moto trip to Arizona turns into a drama

Photo taken from Facebook
François Bessette and Elaine Riel

Vincent Larin

Saturday, February 3, 2018 22:14

UPDATE
Sunday, 4 February, 2018 00:04

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The two-week trip to Arizona a couple of Quebecers turned to tragedy on Thursday when their motorcycle hit a pickup truck making a left turn.

François Bessette, 54 years of age and a native of Montreal, died of his injuries. His wife, Elaine Riel, would have suffered multiple fractures and had just been released from the intensive care unit of a hospital in Phoenix yesterday evening, said close.

It does, however, know very little yet about the circumstances of the accident.

“It hit us in the face. Francis was so careful. He passed away on the road, it all seems surreal, ” said in shock, a friend of the couple for several years, James Sutherland.

Wedding in September

Mr. Sutherland was wiped out yesterday. He had to get married at the same time as the couple Bessette-Riel next fall. The event is scheduled for September 1, 2018 was to have taken place in Cornwall where Mr. Bessette was still working for the canadian armed Forces as a chief warrant officer, during his retirement, said Mr Sutherland.

“As soon as they came back from Arizona, we had to start to prepare the invitations,” explained the man who shared his passion for the motorcycle with François Bessette for several years.

The couple spent two weeks in Arizona as he was a regular in recent years.

“We had plans for retirement, was saddened by Mr. Sutherland. If I hadn’t had a scheduling conflict with my job, I would have been with them at that time. “

Photo Courtesy KYMA TV

The two-week trip to Arizona of François Bessette and Elaine Riel turned to the drama, when the motorcycle of the couple is involved in a collision with a pickup truck in Yuma.

At the bedside of his sister

Immediately informed of the tragedy, the sister of Elaine Riel and relatives of François Bessette would have flown to Phoenix, said another friend of the couple, Lilliane Gauthier.

“Elaine is woken up, but it does not yet take account of the scale of the drama “, she added, the votes tied.

According to the office of the sheriff for the county of Yuma, the accident occurred in the morning, shortly before 10 a.m., in the village located a few kilometers from the border with Mexico.

The couple would have collided with a sport utility vehicle when the latter has performed a manoeuvre to turn left, one can read in a press release.

The driver of the SUV, a man of 62 years of age, of Yuma, “was examined on the scene and refused any medical care,” one can read there. The causes of the accident are still to be determined, indicates the sheriff’s office in its press release.

Another friend of the couple, Marcel Allaire, said to have been surprised to learn that François Bessette had been the victim of an accident, adding that he too was very careful.

– With the collaboration of Michel Bellemare, QMI Agency