On Tyler Chelone's Facebook page is a photo of his most prized possession: a shiny, yellow 2008 Suzuki GSXR 600 motorcycle. The Navy officer had bought it for himself after transferring to Coronado from Norfolk, Va., this summer.
Chelone, 25, took all of the Navy's safety courses for motorcycling. He also followed the Navy's guideline of spending at least 600 miles in the saddle before venturing out on the open highway.
“He did everything by the book,” said his wife, Stephanie, 26, a naval officer at North Island Naval Air Station.
Despite his caution, Tyler Chelone is on life support at Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa, with his wife keeping vigil at his bedside.
On Sunday, his motorcycle collided with a truck on a winding road near Jamul. The accident occurred less than a week after he celebrated his first wedding anniversary.
Chelone, a lieutenant junior grade, had taken advantage of beautiful weekend weather to go riding with two buddies in the backcountry. He was traveling behind them, going north on Honey Springs Road just south of Lyons Valley Road, about 11 a.m. when his motorcycle crossed the double yellow lines and collided with a GMC Sonoma pickup, said California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Pennings.
Chelone's wife said he was thrown from the bike and suffered severe injuries, including one to the left side of his head.
The 76-year-old man driving the truck was not injured, Pennings said.
Chelone wrestled and played football in high school in Everett, Wash., then competed in the collegiate pistol championships as an ROTC student at the University of Idaho.
After graduating from college, he served on the Norfolk-based amphibious transport dock Shreveport and the Oak Hill, an amphibious dock-landing ship. He deployed to the Persian Gulf twice since last year.
More than anything, though, Chelone wanted to become a SEAL. He qualified for the program this year, moved from Virginia and was working with Naval Special Warfare Group 3 in Coronado at the time of the accident. His official SEAL training was set to start in November.
In recent years, the Navy and Marine Corps have been emphasizing motorcycle safety. About 50 sailors and Marines nationwide have been killed in motorcycle crashes since the Pentagon's latest fiscal year began Oct. 1, more than in any of the previous six years, according to the Naval Safety Center in Norfolk.
Stephanie Chelone isn't sorry she supported her husband's decision to buy the motorcycle. He was as safe a driver as there could be, she said. “We all knew the dangers.”
Steve Liewer: (619) 498-6632; steve.liewer@uniontrib.com
