Innocent Delaware college freshman killed on 1st day of classes after unlicensed motorcyclist flees police

A University of Delaware freshman, who had just finished her first day of classes on Tuesday, was killed by a speeding motorcyclist fleeing a traffic stop, police said.

Noelia Gomez, 18, from Clark, New Jersey, was struck in front of her friends and classmates just before midnight.  

Police identified Brian Briddle, 27, as the motorcyclist.

He was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, disregarding a police officer’s signal, driving a special vehicle without a special license, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, and three counts of failing to stop at a red light, Newark, Delaware, police said.

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When a University of Delaware police officer attempted to stop him for a traffic offense, Briddle disregarded the officer’s emergency lights and fled at a “high rate of speed,” Newark police said. Within one minute of the attempt to stop him, Briddle struck Gomez, who was on a crosswalk near the college campus, they said.

The officer was not pursuing the motorcyclist at the time of the crash and had turned off his emergency lights when the rider sped off, police added.

Bystanders tried to save Gomez, but they were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Briddle was thrown from the motorcycle as a result of the crash, but his motorcycle continued onto the sidewalk and struck four other pedestrians. Three of them suffered minor injuries, while the fourth was transported to a nearby hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening, police said.

Briddle also endured non-life-threatening injuries and was treated at a nearby hospital. 

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Briddle was taken into custody on Thursday. He is being held at the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington on a $362,005 bail. Police are still investigating the crash. 

Gomez recently graduated with honors from Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, and she enjoyed dancing and cheerleading, according to an obituary for her. She was interested in finance and business, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

“Incidents such as this are unimaginably tragic,” University of Delaware President Dennis Assanis said in a statement. “We cannot express enough how sorry we are for the family, friends, and greater community as we are all so deeply shaken by the sudden loss of one of our own. Our hearts are very heavy today.”