The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“In love with the mountain life…”
An accident on Highway 135 near Crested Butte South Saturday afternoon claimed the life of a Crested Butte man. Twenty-nine-year-old Daniel Ryan Krajewski was riding his motorcycle when he hit a car, was ejected from the bike and killed.
According to the Colorado State Patrol accident report blotter, the accident occurred at mile marker 21, which is near the first curve north of the Crested Butte South entrance. The report states that a 2006 BMW X-5, driven by 67-year-old Josie Ruth Williams of Paris, Texas was heading north on Highway 135. She pulled to the right shoulder of the highway and initiated a U-turn as the motorcycle approached. Krajewski was also heading north on the bike.
The reports states that the motorcycle was traveling at a “high rate of speed.” It moved to the center of the northbound lanes and began to brake and skid. As the BMW was completing the U-turn, the motorcycle crossed the center lane into the southbound lane of travel and fell onto its right side. The motorcycle “continued to slide in the southbound lane colliding rear tire and left exhaust with [the BMW’s] driver side rear tire.” Krajewski was ejected from the motorcycle and suffered fatal injuries.
Krajewski was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. As of press time, no citations had been issued.
Krajewski had lived in Crested Butte about two years and worked as a bartender at the Last Steep. “He was a real nice guy,” said Steep owner Sean Hartigan. “He was in love with the mountain life. Just a good guy.”
At last winter’s telemark extreme competition, Krajewski took the coveted “Sick Bird” award with a huge jump off a cliff in Slot Rocks.
Hartigan said a memorial service would be held next week in Connecticut and a Crested Butte service was tentatively planned for May 31 or June 1 at the Steep.
