U.S. Highway 441 Crash
27-Year-Old Motorcyclist Killed in Leesburg Traffic Accident
Last Thursday, the 27-year-old William Ward, a resident of Ocala, was driving his motorcycle southbound down U.S. Highway 441 in Leesburg at about 7:45am when he came upon a stopped school bus that was loading children. Ward, who family and friends remember as always being a careful driver, stopped behind the bus, obeying the signs and the law. As he was waiting for the bus to continue, a pickup truck, driven by the 17-year-old Laurel Mako, came up to the line of stopped vehicles. Mako, who was driving a 2003 Chevy pickup truck, did not stop. It is not known exactly why, but Mako continued to drive forwards, ignoring the vehicles in front of him, until he collided with the back of Ward’s motorcycle, destroying the bike and throwing Ward violently through the air.