A motorcyclist was killed over the weekend when he was hit by a mattress that flew out of the back of a pickup truck. It happened at about 1 P.M. Saturday on a Linn County road, near Prairieburg.
Fifty-five-year-old Roger Ockensfels was driving a pickup pulling a trailer, when a mattress he was hauling in the bed of the pickup, blew out and struck an oncoming motorcycle driven by 73-year-old John Saddler of Cedar Rapids. Saddler was knocked off the cycle, onto the shoulder of the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the sheriff, Saddler was wearing a helmet. Charges are pending.
By Roger King, KOEL, Oelwein