CYCLIST DIES AFTER CRASH WITH TRUCK.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - One man was killed and another sent to a hospital after a motorcyclist slammed head-on into an oncoming truck on a busy Lancaster street, officials said.

Motorcyclist Jerry Rhea Lasley, 49, of Lancaster was killed Monday evening while trying to pass slower-moving traffic in the 3500 block of West Avenue I, deputies said.

``Witnesses, the people he was trying to pass, said they saw the truck coming but, for some reason, he didn't,'' said Deputy Mark Johnston. ``Now we'll never know why he didn't see it.''

Lasley was riding east on a 1995 Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he pulled into the westbound lane to pass.

Robert Eric Bales Jr., 26, of Lancaster was driving westbound at about 50 mph in his 1987 Chevrolet pickup truck when he saw the motorcycle pull into his path, deputies said.

Swerving to the side of the two-lane road with nearly half of his truck on the dirt shoulder, Bales was unable to avoid the Harley completely and the two vehicles collided, sending Lasley flying from his motorcycle, deputies said.

Both men were transported to Antelope Valley Hospital. Lasley died from his injuries. Bales was treated and released.

There were no passengers in the truck, and no one else was injured in the collision.

Deputies said the incident appeared to have been caused by unsafe passing by the motorcyclist but the investigation is still ongoing.