Snake may have caused motorcycle crash

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A New Orleans motorcyclist was seriously injured in a crash that apparently occurred when he became distracted by a rattlesnake he was transporting.

Investigators say the dead snake was tied to the back of the bike and may have been slipping off. The biker struck a curb and became airborne, landing in the street, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.

Matt Rutan, a truck driver who was the only witness to the crash Wednesday afternoon, said that as the cyclist passed him he observed what appeared to be a piece of rope dragging behind. The rope later turned out to be a 5-foot canebrake rattlesnake with its fangs and rattles removed.

Rutan said that he saw the motorcyclist "lift up a little and twist around in his seat like he was attending to something on the back of his bike."

Police said that the cyclist was hospitalized in "very critical condition."

"It was one of the strangest accidents I've responded to in my 37 years on the New Orleans Police Department," said Lt. Melvin Howard, assistant commander of the Traffic Division.