Motorcyclist injured in crash on Highway 101 in Petaluma

A motorcyclist broke his wrist and suffered other injuries when his bike went down after a truck made “an unsafe lane change” on Highway 101 in Petaluma a CHP spokesman said Tuesday.

“We don’t know if there was contact (between the motorcycle and a GMC Sierra truck), or if it was enough movement to cause it (the motorcycle) to crash,” said CHP spokesman David deRutte.

The crash occurred about 5:30 p.m. Monday in the northbound lanes of Highway 101 north of Petaluma Boulevard North, deRutte said. Based on witness reports and evidence at the scene, officers investigating the crash learned that the motorcycle then skidded along the lane and hit a Volkswagen Golf, causing minor damage, before ejecting the rider. The driver of the GMC truck left the crash site, he said, and is being sought by the CHP.

“If you were next to a lane where a motorcycle went down, you’d think that person would stop and offer help,” deRutte said.

The motorcyclist, John Wallace, said in addition to the broken wrist, his forearm might also be broken, according to doctors, and he suffered road rash on the left side and part of the right side of his body as he was “tumbling up the freeway at 65 miles per hour.”

Wallace maintains the truck did hit his motorcycle.

“I feel like I’m on fire still,” said Wallace, 42, of Santa Rosa, who runs a program called “Surviving the Odds” that connects youth from continuation schools to music in Marin County. “I was praying to God please don’t take me now; it’s not my time.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com.