Fatal Accident on Cavin Road & 126

Shortly after 5:50 AM on Friday, March 31, 2017, the California Highway Patrol's (CHP) Ventura Communications Center (VCC) began receiving 9-1-1 calls reporting an injury traffic collision on State Route (SR) 126 (East Telegraph Avenue), at Cavin Road, east of Fillmore. Personnel from the CHP Moorpark Area office, Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) and AMR ambulance were dispatched. As emergency personnel were responding VCC received additional information from 9-1-1 callers indicating an involved motorcyclist was trapped under the other involved vehicles. Personnel from the VCFD and AMR ambulance arrived, were able to remove the motorcyclist from under one of the vehicles and determined he was deceased. CHP investigators have determined the first collision involved a Ford, Explorer, driven my Mr. Abelardo Mejia, and the Suzuki motorcycle ridden by Mr. Cannon. Mr. Cannon had been riding his motorcycle eastbound SR-126, in the # 1 lane (left lane) at an undetermined speed. Mr. Mejia was driving his Ford, Explorer westbound SR-126 and turning left in order to travel southbound on Cavin Road. Mr. Mejia did not see Mr. Cannon's motorcycle approaching the intersection. The motorcycle struck the right rear of the Ford, Explorer. This collision ejected Mr. Cannon from his motorcycle and into the #2 lane (right lane).

Mr. Cannon and/or his motorcycle were subsequently struck by at least two additional vehicles driven by Mr. Daniel Weslow and Ms. Lilia Ayala.

Mr. Mejia complained of pain following the collision and wished to seek his own aid. There is no indication at this time that alcohol and/or drugs were a factor in this collision. A Senior Deputy Investigator from the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office responded to the scene, investigated the specific cause of Mr. Cannon's death and supervised the removal of Mr. Cannon's remains. The CHP impounded all four vehicles as evidence pending further investigation. SR-126 eastbound was completely closed for almost two hours before personnel from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) arrived and used traffic cones to create one eastbound lane, routing traffic around evidence that still needed to be collected. Eastbound traffic was restricted to this one eastbound lane until all lanes were opened at 9:35 AM. Mr. Cannon's wife learned of the collision through on-line sources, recognized her husband would have been in the area of collision based on the time he left for work in Los Angeles, and she responded to the collision scene.

Anyone with additional information regarding this collision is asked to contact the CHP Moorpark Area office, (805) 553-0800.

Submitted by R.D. Cohan, Lieutenant, Commander, Moorpark Area.
Date: 03/31/2017
Time: 12:45