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After leaving Idlewild South [farm], Berry and Kim [Gregg Allman's best friend] rode their motorcycles over to west Macon and hung out a few minutes with Tuffy Phillips, who drove the band's equipment truck. When they left just before two in the afternoon, Berry and Kim headed up Napier Avenue on their way back to the Big House, clowning around and playfully messing with one another on their bikes as they drove. As they reached the intersection of Bartlett Avenue, Kim passed a car on the right side and Berry, driving his dark blue 1967 Triumph, went around it on the left. Kim sprinted ahead of him, then slowed to go through a tricky intersection at Inverness Avenue, where the street goes hard to the right. As Kim went through the sharp curve, a city bus passed by him in the opposite direction.The bus driver saw the two motorcycles coming toward him and instinctively knew that one of them was going too fast to make the curve. He swerved the bus hard to his right and slammed on his brakes trying to avoid a collision; the skid marks stretched for almost thirty feet. Still, Berry's motorcycle shot across the centerline and slammed into the middle of the bus. Kim turned around just in time to see the accident. "I knew Berry was probably turning on the gas to catch up with me," Kim said. "I looked back to see how he was doing; I knew he wasn't very good at riding." He saw the Triumph motorcycle bounce off the big bus, then hit it again toward the rear. Berry was thrown from his bike and went skidding across the street. The Triumph went in the same direction and eventually landed on top of him, fifty-eight feet away from the point of impact. Although immediately after the accident Berry Oakley was conscious, was able to walk under his own power,and declined medical treatment, he had fractured his skull and died in a hospital later that afternoon.

Location of Death

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