2 Victims in Fatal Motorcycle Crash Identified

Two men killed in a motorcycle crash in Petaluma on Sunday afternoon have been identified by police as 36-year-old Richard Wilton and 31-year-old Michael "Seamus" Taylor.

Wilton and Taylor were both riding a motorcycle that crashed into a guardrail on Magnolia Avenue near Gossage Avenue, according to police and fire officials.

Firefighters found the pair pinned beneath the guardrail at a point where Magnolia makes a 90-degree turn, police said.

Wilton, a Vallejo resident who was driving the motorcycle, appeared to have died on impact. Taylor, a Petaluma resident who was a passenger on the motorcycle, was badly injured and was pronounced dead as he was being transported to a nearby hospital, according to fire officials.

Both men were wearing their helmets. An initial investigation and witness reports indicate that speed was a factor in the crash, police said.

The deaths are Petaluma's second and third traffic fatalities of 2012. There had not been a traffic fatality in the city in the previous four years, according to police.