Motorcyclist killed in Saratoga Springs

A 19-year-old motorcyclist who served with the National Guard was killed after a Sunday night accident in a Saratoga Springs parking garage, police said.

Michael Mattice of Galway suffered the injuries just before 9:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Woodlawn Avenue parking garage.

The accident happened on the flat area of the garage’s top floor. There were people there who witnessed the incident, police Sgt. Shane Crooks said. The cause remains under investigation.

Crooks said Mattice was driving too fast for what is considered safe in a parking garage when he struck a parked car, then a wall.

Mattice was wearing a helmet but died of blunt force trauma, Crooks said.

Crooks did not have an estimate of how fast Mattice was going. That would come as part of the investigation, Crooks said.

Mattice was pronounced dead a short time after the crash.

There was nothing to indicate alcohol was involved, Crooks said.

Mattice was a private with the National Guard, a spokesman for the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs said.

He was a scout with A Troop, Second Squadron, 101st Cavalry based in Geneva.

Mattice joined the guard in March 2014, the spokesman said.

Matthew Foster of Schenectady on Monday recalled Mattice as “a funny, caring kid who had a whole life ahead of him.”

Foster, who spoke to The Daily Gazette via Twitter, said he knew Mattice briefly, but would check up on him from time to time.

The third level of the garage was shut down as investigators worked on reconstructing the scene.

Anyone with information on the accident is asked to contact the Saratoga Springs Police Department.

Members of the city police traffic unit and criminal investigations unit responded.

The Police Department was assisted by the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department.

Categories: News, Schenectady County