UPDATE JUNE 21: The Clark County coroner has identified the man who was killed in the crash as 31-year-old Erik John Barton from Henderson. Barton's cause of death was blunt force injuries and it was ruled an accident.
ORIGINAL STORY: LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to a fatal crash involving a single motorcycle at about 6:03 a.m. on June 19 near the intersection of East Harmon Avenue and Jimmy Durante Boulevard.
Officers say the evidence at the scene and a witness statement show that a 2017 KTM motorcycle was traveling east on Harmon Avenue at a high rate of speed when it struck a curb, crashed through a fence and ended up in a drainage canal.
According to LVMPD, the motorcycle and driver struck the east embankment of the canal and came to rest. The passenger was ejected and came to rest in the desert area east of the canal.
Arriving medical personnel pronounced the driver dead at the scene.
The passenger sustained major injuries and was transported to Sunrise Hospital where she was admitted.
The motorcycle driver's death marks the 61st traffic-related fatality in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's jurisdiction for the year 2021.
The collision remains under investigation by the LVMPD's Collision Investigation Section.
