19-year-old dies in accident near Dead Man's Curve on Friday evening

CLEVELAND – Cleveland police are investigating a car crash that killed a 19-year-old woman Friday night.

At about 10:15 p.m., 19-year-old Ryleigh Schmitz was riding a motorcycle on Route 2 and attempted to merge onto I-90 West near Dead Man's Curve when she drove through the painted rail and collided with a semi-truck, police said.

Kayden Paserk was leading the group of bikers, which included Ryleigh, when the accident happened.

Paserk told News 5 that he turned around once to look behind him and saw no one.

“It's weird, you know. You should have seen one or two other people speeding with us,” Paserk said. “We slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road, and me and my other friends saw the semi drive past us, pulling her bike behind it.”

Schmitz was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Paserk said he was devastated by what he saw and the death of his good friend.

“She was just always a happy person…she wanted to be your friend. She wanted to get to know you. She wanted to ride with you,” Paserk said.

Aurthur Oravec of Parma was also a good friend of Ryleigh. He said they went everywhere together and her loss hurts.

“She was caring, fun to be around, fun to ride with, she was just a great person. She was always happy. There was never a bad day with her,” Oravec said.

The driver of the semi-trailer was not injured and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.