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Motorcyclist dies after crash throws him into nearby SUV

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A motorcyclist died hours after he ended up inside an SUV when a pickup slammed into him Friday evening near John Wayne Airport, authorities said.

The motorcyclist, identified by coroner’s officials as Darin Byrne, 46, of Covina, was headed north on Bristol Street in Newport Beach about 5:45 p.m. when a Ford F-350 headed west on Campus Drive went through a red light and hit the motorcycle in the intersection, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The impact threw the rider off the motorcycle and into an SUV in the lane next to him, according to Officer Florentino Olivera, a CHP spokesman.

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“He was inside,” Olivera said.

The F-350 then struck the SUV, which overturned, trapping Byrne, Olivera said. The force of the crash pushed the SUV into an Infiniti that also was headed north on Bristol, Olivera added.

Paramedics freed Byrne from the SUV and took him to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, according to the CHP.

Olivera said Byrne was responsive at the scene of the crash — even walking and talking — but he died at the hospital about 8:30 p.m.

The Orange County coroner’s office has scheduled an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

No one else was seriously hurt in the crash, Olivera said.

Authorities are still investigating, but Olivera said nobody involved appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. No arrests or citations have been made, according to the CHP.

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