Excessive speed, pothole suspected in motorcyclist's death

A motorcyclist killed on Interstate 394 Tuesday night might have been going as fast as 120 mph.

The State Patrol said this morning that they think 30-year-old Anand Baskaran, of East Northport, N.Y., was one of two cyclists going as much as twice the speed limit on eastbound I-394 near Theodore Wirth Parkway when he may have hit a pothole or something else in the road and lost control. He was thrown from the bike and killed.

Witnesses told police they saw a speeding rider wearing a helmet, State Patrol officials said. The first people to reach the scene, including a state trooper, found the rider without a helmiet. But authorities later recovered a helmet at the scene.

Baskaran was an IT analyst for Maplewood-based 3M, the company said.

State Patrol officals say there was another motorcycle in the area, also going at a high rate of speed. It wasn't clear if they were racing or simply traveling together on the freeway. Authorities say they're looking for the other motorcyclist, who might offer some additional detail on the circumstances of the accident.

"We did have three witness statements on scene that talked about very, very high rates of speed of this motorcycle, along with another motorcyle it was traveling with," Lt. Jason Bartell said at a press conference in St. Paul. "The estimates of speed were 100 to 120 miles per hour."

The state of Minnesota has reported a sharp increase in motorcycle fatalities in the last two years. Preliminary numbers showed rider deaths were up 7 percent, to 60 killed last year. The first died in a crash on April 4, 2013.

Department of Public Safety officials said Baskaran's death was the second earliest rider death ever recorded in a Minnesota riding season.

Authorities say motorcyclists need to be especially cautios because of rough roads, refreezing snow melt and sand.