Durham police identify man killed during motorcycle crash on NC 55

DURHAM (WTVD) -- A Durham man was killed Tuesday morning in a motorcycle crash.

Officials said the wreck happened just before 7 a.m.

Officials said 44-year-old Benjamin Parker Brandenburg was trying to turn left on I-40 east and collided with a Yamaha motorcycle driven by 33-year-old Johnathan Oneal.

"They fly, they need to slow down! And all I could say was why couldn't it be too cold to ride this morning," said Cheryl Whitfield, retired Chapel Hill Public Safety worker and bystander at the scene. "All I could do was pray. For the the family, the loved ones that were gonna be called, and the people who had witnessed it. In all my years, it was bad. It got me!"

Oneal was pronounced dead on the scene; Brandenburg was treated at the scene by EMS.

Brandenburg was cited for misdemeanor death by vehicle.

The on and off-ramp to 55 were closed for most of the morning but reopened just before 10:30 a.m.