Coroner identifies motorcyclist killed in Merced County crash near Gustine

The Merced County Sheriff Coroner’s Office has identified a motorcyclist killed in a Merced County crash near Gustine on March 23, as 49-year-old Ronny Paul Soares of Newman, according to Deputy Daryl Allen.

California Highway Patrol officers responded to the collision just before 5 p.m. in the area of Whitworth Road and Taglio Road. According to the CHP, Soares was riding a 2004 Suzuki motorcycle south on Whitworth Road approaching the intersection with Taglio Road at a high rate of speed.

Authorities said the motorcycle collided with a 2019 Honda slowly traveling north on Whitworth Road as the driver of the vehicle, a Gustine man, prepared to make a left turn onto Taglio Road. The vehicles collided in the intersection and Soares was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the CHP.

The driver of the Honda sustained minor injuries and neither drugs nor alcohol appeared to be a factor in the crash, the CHP said.