Motorcyclist on Coinjock Bridge dies after accident

COINJOCK — A Hertford man died Sunday of injures he received after losing control of his motorcycle on the Coinjock Bridge Saturday afternoon.

David Paul Schott, 48, of 111 Joshua Circle died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital from head injuries, said Sgt. C.D. Gould of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

Schott, who was headed north on U.S. 158 about 3:10 p.m., lost control of his motorcycle when the front wheel hit a piece of wood at the crest of the Coinjock Bridge and slid about 50 feet, Gould said.

Schott was riding with a group of other motorcyclists who had just left a fund-raising event in Waterlily for two boys and a man who died in a fire at Hampton Lodge Campground last month, Gould said.

The wood was a piece broken from a pallet, about 2 1/2 feet long, 4 inches wide and 2 to 3 inches tall, he said.

Six people have died in vehicle accidents in Currituck County so far this year.

This is the first fatal motorcycle accident in the county this year.

The Coinjock Bridge and the highway just south and north have been the site of several fatal vehicle accidents in recent years.

The bridge, formally named the Joseph Palmer Knapp Bridge, rises about 65 feet over the Intracoastal Waterway.

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By JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, The Virginian-Pilot