Tourist dies in bike crash on first wedding anniversary

The Napa County coroner’s office has identified a bicyclist who died Tuesday afternoon in a collision with a truck in St. Helena as 31-year-old Ohio resident Maria Crozier.

Napa County sheriff’s Capt. Steve Blower said Crozier and her husband Brad, of North Ridgeville in northeast Ohio near Cleveland, were celebrating their first wedding anniversary in Napa County.

The couple was married at the Harvest Inn in St. Helena on May 26, 2014, St. Helena police Sgt. Matt Talbott said.

They were riding bicycles on Main Street near the Inn at Southbridge business complex around 1:50 p.m. when Crozier struck the passenger side of a northbound box truck while turning south onto Main Street, Talbott said.

The bike fell under the wheels of the truck and Crozier was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband was riding behind her when the collision occurred, Talbott said:

“I’ve not seen a more tragic case. To have it happen so quickly, it’s tragic, absolutely tragic.”

Stop-and-go traffic on Main Street, part of state Highway 29, was unusually heavy Tuesday. The truck, which had stopped, started moving again at about 5 mph when the collision occurred, Talbott said.

Police identified the truck driver as Rafeeq Sabry, 37, of El Sobrante. He stopped at the scene and was “quite shaken up,” Talbott said.

Sabry works for a private company contracted by the U.S. Postal Service that delivers mail to offices in the Bay Area. The truck is registered and Sabry has a driver’s license, Talbott said.

Sabry said he did not see the collision but heard something and stopped, according to Talbott.

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