29-Year-Old Woman Dead in Motorcycle Crash Today
Press release from the CHP:
On 09/18/2020 at approximately 12:26 PM, the Humboldt Area CHP received a call of a head-on collision involving a vehicle and a motorcycle on Walnut Drive near Greenbriar Lane, in Cutten. Upon CHP arrival it was determined that a 2007 Kymco Motorcycle, being driven by 29 year old Trista Poletski of Eureka, had been traveling northbound on Walnut Dr., south of Greenbriar Ln., at approximately 40-45 MPH. A 2007 Dodge Nitro, driven by 46 year old Terri Welch of Eureka, was traveling southbound on Walnut Dr. at approximately 40 MPH. For unknown reasons, Ms. Poletski allowed the motorcycle to travel into the southbound lane where she collided with the front of the Dodge Nitro. Emergency medical personnel responded and provided life saving efforts for Ms. Poletski. However, Ms. Poletski suffered major injuries as a result of the collision and was pronounced deceased at the scene. The Humboldt County Coroner’s office responded to the scene and provided notification to the next of kin.
The CHP Humboldt Area Office is continuing to investigate this collision and asks anyone who may have information to contact the office at 707-822-5981 or send an email to [email protected].
Earlier Chapter: CPR Being Performed After Motorcycle and Vehicle Head-on Collision in Eureka
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R.I.P Trista
Condolences to the family.🙏
This is so tragic and why motorbikes scare me so much, just one mistake and you become a statistic. She was only 29 years old. I looked up pictures of a 2007 Kymco and this pic was the closest match. I’m guessing she was on a scooter and who knows why she left the center lane. 🙁
There are motorcycle riders who find scooters scary. Too unstable and easy to lose control at speed.
First off trista was raised around cousins and uncles who by the way not just rode them but built them.she was not inexperienced.no one knows what really happened that’s why the police are asking for help to find any witnesses.
Tragic.
So sorry. Condolences to the family!
Rip Trista. You will be missed and very sorry for your loss Tina …your daughter was a great person and a great friend.
I don’t feel that the photo of her knowingly deceased and the bike is an appropriate choice. Rest in peace girl
Thank you! I was hoping someone else would think this as well the family doesnt need to see that
There is no photo of the woman who died. Her body is behind everything.
Kim family is going through a hell you could not imagine right now. I am asking you to show some compassion right now. Yes it doesnt show Trista’s body but this isnt needed. Please do the right thing.
If seeing this picture is what the parents and family are concerned with atm they should reevaluate. You are grasping at straws. [edit] Taking the picture down doesn’t change shit, but allow you to feel important, which you are not. Condolences to the family, may you should focus on that!
“Taking the picture down doesn’t change shit, but allow you to feel important, which you are not”
This is an ignorant and insensitive comment. There are many concerns we have. The photo is obvious and clearly speaks for itself. Show some respect and shut your mouth!
I’m sorry for the family’s loss. I would like to point out that some hospitals allow family member to witness the resuscitation efforts being undertaken to save their loved one. The belief being that it allows family to understand all was done to save their loved one
Irene, I’ll repeat my response I made in an email to you, because I think it is important that people see my reasoning on leaving the photo up.
When you know someone involved in a tragedy, suddenly everything that would otherwise be not noticeable at all can seem grating and harsh. We have been posting photos of accident scenes, many of them tragic ones, for years. Photographers have shown tragic scenes from wars, fires, murders, car accidents, and more through the last century and a half. You have surely seen them because they are part of the daily news. If you close your eyes you probably have ones that stay with you and have changed your life–the young Vietnamese girl fleeing covered in napalm, someone at the Boston Marathon streaked in blood, a toddler drowned after a boat wreck. That’s what we journalists do, we document the terrible (and also the beautiful) for both those who are living now and those who will come in the future.
Mark McKenna, the photographer, a photojournalism teacher at HSU, worked hard to capture the tenderness and skill of the first responders handling this young woman’s remains without showing her in any way. He’s still shook up this evening as am I to a lesser extent. We don’t take death lightly. We rejected several shots that did have this young woman’s completely covered remains in them because we wanted to respect the family’s grief. But at the same time it is our job to make real to people the dangers that exist.
In addition, though this isn’t true in your case, families of victims have reached out to us over the years saying that having the images helped them come to grips with the death of their loved one.
I understand that any image at all of this terrible scene will seem intrusive to some who have had a life that is precious to them snuffed out. At the same time, we’d all be the poorer if we didn’t have images that gave us an understanding of the kindness and professionalism of our first responders, a sense of the power and danger of motor vehicles, and a clearer picture of our world.
Very well said.
Some of us do not life in a bubble….If things like this affect you then you shld refrain from viewing these type of stories.
RIP, condolences to the family.
I was very surprised to see the lack of compassion and concern in your comment Kim.
6 weeks of covering wildfires, living on 5 hours sleep a night, my husband’s stepdad’s house burning down and him moving in with us, being in the middle of covering a hostage situation when I saw the comment, the stress of trying to balance the demands of COVID and the needs of my mother, my personal grief and fear over the direction of the country…all undoubtedly let to me responding in a shorter fashion than I should have. Which is why, when I realized what I had done, I came back and tried to explain a journalist’s perspective on why we chose to run this image.
Yours is just as bad. Designed to elicit shame and remorse. A very parental approach, cloaked in a sugary facsimile of loving care: “I’m disappointed in you, Honey. I thought you were better than this.”
Don’t do this to people! Kym is only doing her job, and doing it well. This is not an obituary or loving remembrance; it’s the report of an accident– how it seemed to have happened and what was the outcome. As such, a public service of warning people, especially younger, inexperienced drivers, of the very real and horrible potential of inattentive driving– or even simply of chance, especially when on a motorbike– is entirely appropriate.
P.S. This comment, however, does not judge your moral development; it points out that your judgment is unnecessarily personal and sure to cause uneasy, hurt feelings.
That is my cousin. And we are thankful we didn’t have to see her like that it is bad enough to see these pictures..
It would not be appropriate in an obituary or remembrance. This article is clearly an accident report. Photos of same are appropriate, and title of article reveals potential content.
Kym, i think your choice is fine. I know you wouldn’t allow such a photo in a memorial article!
A picture says a thousand words. The mantra of the photo journalist. How true, and thought provoking. The above photo shows a wide range of subject matter and one can focus on any one element, even to the level of obsession.
Tina is my husbands cousin so obviously trista is his cousin and unfortunately pictures are going to float around but for our family please show some respect!
Condolences to the family, especially her daughter. Sad and tragic for all involved, the other driver as well….
Such tragedy…
I don’t understand why some of you who are reading this think that’s it’s ok to JUDGE those involved. Ms. Kim is only doing her job and she’s doing it well! We are going through issues, especially right now… How dare you people judge this woman! My condolences to the family(ies)… Let he who is without any sin cast the first stone…
God Bless you
So sorry for your loss! I understand the struggle between what to show and not. This morning I was on a highway going to work. A motorcycle went by at an excessive speed weaving in and out. I prayed for everyone’s safety as my heart was in my throat. Perhaps showing accidents like this will impress on people the value of life and how quickly it can end. So sorry for those going through this loss.