Grieving brother, mother speak of Bend crash victim

(Update: Crash victim’s brother, mother speak; family creates GoFundMe account)

Two grieving family members of a 21-year-old Bend man killed in a motorcycle-pickup crash Tuesday spoke with NewsChannel 21 — including an older brother who happened upon the tragic scene moments later.

Davis Franco, 21, was heading south on Third Street when his motorcycle collided with a pickup truck towing a trailer and turning onto the road.

Franco’s brother was driving on the very same road, heading to work, when he came upon the crash scene. He and the man’s mother contacted NewsChannel 21 on Wednesday and spoke tearfully about the tragic turn of events.

“Yeah I drove by, and when I saw his bike, I almost froze,” Kenneth Franco said. “I parked at the Shell station and I ran out. And everything around me didn’t exist any more. I almost got hit crossing the street, because I wanted to get to him.

“I saw him laying there and the paramedics were doing CPR on him, I grabbed his hand and told him ‘Davis you can’t go. You can’t do this to Mom.'”

He said his brother had been riding his motorcycle for about a year.

Their mother, Jessica Franco, said Davis always was helping where and how he could, even after her husband recently lost his job as a painter.

“Just last week, my husband got laid off, and he was right there, the one buying food and always there trying to help with the little that he had,” she said. “The last time that I saw him was when he was outside, taking off on his motorcycle.”

Police and fire medics responded around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday to the reported crash at the intersection of Third Street and Miller Avenue, just south of the railroad underpass, Sgt. Eric Hagan said.

An initial investigation determined that Franco was riding a 2017 Yamaha motorcycle heading south on Third Street.

A 43-year-old Bend man, meanwhile, was driving a 2017 Chevy pickup towing an enclosed utility trailer. (NewsChannel 21’s policy in general is to not name people involved in crashes unless they are seriously injured or charged with a crime.)

The pickup driver was heading east on Miller and stopped at the stop sign at Third Street, then made a left turn to head north on Third Street, Hagan said. At that point, Franco’s motorcycle struck the rear quarter-panel of the pickup.

Responding officers and medics performed life-saving efforts, including CPR, but Franco, who had been wearing a helmet died at the scene, Hagan said. The pickup driver stayed on the crash scene and fully cooperated with investigators, he added.

Third Street was closed until about 1:30 p.m. while a Bend Police reconstruction team investigated the crash, an investigation that Hagan said remains active.

Crash investigators are asking anyone who witnessed the crash or who saw the vehicles involved before it occurred are asked to contact them through the Deschutes County non-emergency number, 541-693-6911.

Franco’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.