Motorcyclist Fatally Struck On U.S. 19

SPRING HILL - A van traveling north on U.S. 19 Sunday night struck a motorcycle from behind hard enough to lodge the bike upright in its grill.

The motorcycle's driver, Randi Lavikoff, died on the roadway. She was 56.

Angelica Passow witnessed the collision as she waited to turn left onto the highway at Berkeley Manor Boulevard, where the 7-Eleven sits on the corner. It was 6:55 p.m.; winter darkness had fully descended.

She said two motorcycles were side by side in the center lane and alone at the red light. They were just picking up speed after the light turned green when a boxy conversion van slammed into the pair.

The impact launched one rider off her motorcycle and sent her skidding across the pavement. The other motorcyclist was knocked over and his leg trapped under the heavy Harley Davidson, Passow said.

Acting completely on impulse, Passow, 24, and her younger brother jumped out of their van and ran over to help the fallen riders. Oncoming traffic was coming full speed through the green light and whizzed by the rescuers.

"We were running and screaming," Passow said Monday morning by phone.

Horns blared at the siblings as they frantically attempted to slow down traffic. Two cars almost struck each other as drivers swerved to avoid Passow and her brother. They came within yards of running over Lavikoff lying on the asphalt.

When traffic finally came to a halt, Passow knelt down by Lavikoff and attempted to take a pulse.

"I thought she was dead," she said, but a registered nurse who had stopped to help heard a heartbeat through a stethoscope. The impact had mangled Lavikoff's helmet.

Meanwhile, Passow's 21-year-old brother helped the other injured motorcyclist, Linden Gates, to the side of the road. He was banged up and sore, but otherwise OK. "He wanted to know how the hell the conversion van didn't see him," Passow said.

Both Passow and a fire official said the motorcycle was embedded dead center in the van's grill so far that the rear tire couldn't be seen.

The van's driver, 61-year-old James Brennan, gave the Florida Highway Patrol a home address in Murrysville, Penn. He was issued a citation for careless driving.

Gates, 64, was in tears on Monday as he talked about the loss of Lavikoff, whom he described as "very sensitive."

"She loved life and she was always on the go," he said.

Lavikoff began work as a probation officer with the Florida Department of Corrections in 2005. In a prepared statement, the department expressed condolences to her family and said, "Randi loved her job and was happy to be a public servant."

She also spent years working with troubled youth through the Eckerd Youth Camps and counseling the mentally challenged.

Lavikoff and Gates have known each other for over a decade, but it wasn't until after his wife of 44 years passed away last year that Gates moved in with Lavikoff.

Together the couple explored the outdoors: Snorkeling, hiking and fishing. Lavikoff had a passion for horseback riding and kept four horses on her rural property on Wildlife Lane.

She also introduced Gates to motorcycles and together they logged more than 1,000 miles on a trip to the Carolinas. Lavikoff "was a very safety conscious person," Gates said. She always wore a helmet and wouldn't let Gates ride off without one, too.

"What can you do though when someone runs you over?" Gates asked.

On Sunday night, the two had just finished dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Over their meal, Lavikoff talked about her son's pending transfer with the U.S. Coast Guard to Alaska.

It was his last moments with her.

"It happened so fast," Gates said. "In just a couple of minutes your whole life changes."

Lavikoff is survived by two sons in their early 30s and a grandson.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete on Monday.