Family Wants To Know Why It Took Dallas Police Hours to Find Motorcyclist's Body Wednesday, April 16, 2008 (20:34:09) Posted by editor Thomas Davidson died Sunday morning in a grassy, dirty field surrounded by the concrete pillars of Dallas freeway ramps and the roar of passing vehicles overhead. His family and friends know that much about the death of the 38-year-old artist and father of two. What they want to know, they say, is why he lay there for more than four hours before Dallas police and fire personnel found him, despite finding his motorcycle without a rider along Interstate 45 near Deep Ellum minutes after the 2:50 a.m. accident. A witness who pulled over after the accident also said he used a flashlight to spot Mr. Davidson, wearing a helmet and black jacket, lying face down below the freeway, and told a 911 operator where to find him. "He was a good kid, and he didn't deserve to be treated like he was," Mr. Davidson's father, Thomas Davidson Jr., said Tuesday. "Regardless of what created that accident, the events that came after that accident were totally inexcusable." Police and Dallas-Fire Rescue personnel say they are reviewing their response to the accident. "There were some things we could have done that we didn't do, and now we're trying to find out why and make sure it doesn't happen again," said Dallas police Lt. Scott Bratcher, a commander of the traffic unit. Mr. Davidson – who also used the name Thomas Gregory – was pronounced dead on the ground 26 feet below the freeway at 7:27 a.m., minutes after police returned to the scene when another 911 caller reported two homeless people digging through Mr. Davidson's pockets. It is not known if Mr. Davidson died instantly, but witnesses said he was traveling up to 100 mph when he was thrown from the motorcycle. Mr. Davidson has several previous convictions in Dallas County, including in the 1990s for drunken driving, possession of marijuana and driving with a suspended license, according to court records. Matt Julius was driving along the ramp from Interstate 30 westbound to Interstate 45 north toward Central Expressway when he said he saw a motorcycle speed past him on his right. As the motorcycle rounded the curved ramp, it careened into the left concrete wall, Mr. Julius said, throwing the driver over the left side. "I just stopped and ran over with my flashlight and found him" from the highway above, he said, adding that Mr. Davidson appeared to be motionless. Mr. Julius said he called 911 and told the operator the man was lying face down below the highway. "I described him to a T and the 911 [operator], I told her I would exit the first exit and wait for police, but we could not stay because I almost got into an accident," he said. "She said I don't have to wait, I could just go, everybody was on their way." When police and fire personnel arrived at the scene shortly before 3 a.m., they found Mr. Davidson's damaged 2005 Suzuki motorcycle on the right side of the highway, near the Adam Hats building. What they did not find in the darkness was the spot where the motorcycle first hit the concrete wall, a few hundred feet back and on the opposite side of the highway, police said. Investigators focused their hourlong search on the wrong side of the highway and too far north, police said. Officers thought a witness might have taken the victim to a hospital, according to a police report. "We want to know why they didn't find his body when they went out there," said Tisha Frisbee, Mr. Davidson's sister. Mr. Julius said no one from the Police Department contacted him to ask for help finding the driver, a decision Lt. Bratcher called a mistake. "If you have a witness, someone should call him back," Lt. Bratcher said. "If you get up there, you find a motorcycle and no rider, someone should say, 'We have a vehicle and no rider. Can you come back up here and show us?' " For Mr. Davidson's father, who shares his son's name, at least one question may never be answered. "I'll go to my grave wondering whether if they had been there early enough, if there was any possibility ... they could have saved him." Source: Dallas Morning News Content received from: American Biker News, http://americanbikernews.com