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An 18-year-old Arizona woman allegedly driving a sports car at 155 mph slammed into a motorcycle carrying a former police officer — killing the dad of two, whom she tried to save with CPR.
Rachel Berg, 18, was speeding in her brand-new Chevy Corvette on a Mesa highway about 10:30 p.m. March 12 when she rear-ended a Harley-Davidson being ridden by Michael Clark, 46, a Tempe park ranger, AZ Family reported.
The former Tacoma, Washington, cop was thrown from his bike in the eastbound HOV lane of US 60, according to the outlet.
Berg pulled over and tried to perform CPR on the fallen biker but he died at the scene — then told police she couldn’t stop in time before ramming the Hog, AZ Family said.
Data from her car’s airbag control module reportedly indicated that she had been traveling at 155 mph five seconds before impact and 87 mph when she struck the bike after slamming on the brakes.
Berg was arrested Monday and charged with reckless manslaughter.
Clark’s wife, Laura, said she wants justice for her husband.
“He should’ve been home at 10:45 and I got out of bed at 11:15 and he wasn’t and I could hear the police helicopter. And I knew, I knew. I called him. He didn’t answer. I texted him, but he didn’t read it,” Laura told AZ Family.
“He was a man of service. He served his country and he served the community of Tacoma. He was serving Tempe,” she said about her husband of nine years, who became a park ranger six months ago after the couple moved to Mesa.
He was a police officer in Tacoma for 14 years before they sold their belongings in 2020 and bought an RV.
“He never met a stranger and he was so warm and welcoming. And our house was always the house for holidays. He loved to cook for people. He loved being a father. He loved being a father to his kids and he was an amazing husband,” Laura told the outlet.
She said that “young people sometimes think that they’re invincible. And don’t think their decisions through and it’s devastating.
“He never met a stranger and he was so warm and welcoming. And our house was always the house for holidays. He loved to cook for people. He loved being a father. He loved being a father to his kids and he was an amazing husband,” Laura told the outlet.
“Families are torn apart. He has kids that now don’t have a dad,” Laura added. “The devastation is real and I don’t know how we will ever recover from it. I don’t know how we ever put one foot in front of the other again.”
Berg’s mother told the outlet that the tragedy also has been tough for her family.
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