'I screwed up,' motorcyclist told police after causing crash that killed UD freshman

Sitting on a curb handcuffed, smelling of alcohol with his face bloodied and his right eye swollen, motorcyclist Brian Briddle claimed to have no memory of the high-speed crash that killed a University of Delaware freshman and injured four other pedestrians.

But as he rode in an ambulance to Christiana Hospital, Briddle appeared to have one moment of clarity. “I screwed up,” he told the police officer riding in the ambulance with him, according to court documents.

The court records released Friday provide the most complete picture yet of the crash that killed 18-year-old Noelia Gomez, of Clark, N.J. just hours after she attended her first day of college classes. Briddle was arrested Thursday – on his 27th birthday – and remains behind bars, charged with second-degree murder and a bevy of related offenses.

The incident began shortly before midnight Tuesday when a UD police officer saw Briddle riding a 2008 Yamaha motorcycle on Main Street near the intersection of South Chapel Street. He was riding in a “normal manner” but did not have a license plate on the motorcycle, court documents indicate.

The officer activated his emergency lights in an attempt to pull over the motorcycle. Briddle changed lanes, revved his engine and began speeding away as he passed the Haines Street intersection. The officer did not pursue the motorcycle for safety reasons and turned off his lights in the area of Haines Street.

Briddle continued down Main Street, driving at excessive speeds, making unsafe lane changes and blowing through red lights at Academy Street, South College Avenue and North College Avenue, according to court records, which indicate Briddle's reckless driving was captured on the officer's dash camera and by several surveillance cameras along Main Street.

“Main Street was full of vehicular traffic and pedestrians at the time of the incident,” Master Cpl. Wayne Aston wrote in court documents. “Earlier that day was the first day of classes for the fall semester at the University of Delaware. There were vehicles parked along the roadway, vehicles traveling the roadway and vehicles stopped at red lights. There were many pedestrians walking along the adjacent sidewalks and crossing the roadway. The businesses along the roadway were still open as this occurred just before midnight, and the bars were beginning to let out.”

Gomez was crossing Main Street in a crosswalk in front of Trabant University Center when Briddle's motorcycle hit her. Passersby attempted live-saving measures, but Gomez went into cardiac arrest and died at the scene.

Briddle fell off the motorcycle, which then hit a pole and four other pedestrians on a nearby sidewalk. One of the pedestrians was hospitalized for injuries, as was Briddle.

Both the officer that rode in the ambulance with Briddle and nurses at the hospital detected a faint smell of alcohol coming from Briddle, but officers were unable to perform field sobriety tests due to his injuries, court records indicate.

At the hospital, Briddle continued to insist he didn't remember the crash or the officer trying to pull him over.

“Briddle did state that he would have run from police because his motorcycle was not registered and he did not like the way that police officers treat motorcyclists,” Aston wrote.

A records check showed that Briddle has a valid driver's license but does not have the required motorcycle endorsement. The motorcycle is not registered in Delaware. It was last registered by a previous owner in Virginia and was reported as having been sold.

Two days after the crash, Briddle was taken into custody at his home in the Aspen Run apartment complex near Bear. He was charged with second-degree murder, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, disregarding a police officer's signal, driving a special vehicle without a special license, operation of an unregistered motor vehicle and three counts of failure to stop at a red light.

Traffic crashes rarely result in murder charges. However, Delaware law specifies that a person is guilty of second-degree murder if he causes the death of another person while engaged in a felony or while fleeing after committing a felony. Fleeing from the police is a Class G felony, thus triggering the murder charge against Briddle.

“Briddle drove, used and possessed a motor vehicle, a dangerous instrument used as a deadly weapon, during the commission of this felony,” Aston wrote.

Briddle was jailed after failing to post $362,005 cash bail. If convicted, he would face 15 years to life in prison.