Motorcyclist killed in Merced County crash

A 67-year-old man was killed Sunday in a motorcycle crash on Hornitos Road in Merced County, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The motorcycle rider, a man from Sonora whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene around 2:35 p.m. Sunday on Hornitos Road, south of Robinson Road, the CHP said in a news release.

Witnesses told investigators the man was riding a 2005 Harley Davidson north, passing a northbound white pickup that was towing a livestock trailer. The motorcycle left the roadway for unknown reasons, traveling on the west shoulder of the road before colliding with a barbed wire fence, the CHP said.

The rider continued traveling along the fence line before he was ejected, officers said.

Neither drugs nor alcohol were believed to have been factors, the CHP said.

The cause of the collision remains under investigation.

This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Motorcyclist killed in Merced County crash."