Marina del Rey Resident Killed in Love Ride Motorcycle Charity Event

A 51-year-old Marina del Rey man who was participating in a charity Love Ride motorcycle event and his 39-year-old passenger were killed Sunday after their motorcycle collided with a tractor-trailer, officials said.

Romarino Zeri was identified Monday by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office as the driver of a 2000 Indian motorcycle that collided Sunday morning with a big-rig on southbound Interstate 5 in the Altadena area. Zeri and Julie Anne Cameron, 38, of Torrance, a passenger on the motorcycle, were both pronounced dead at the scene.

A California Highway Patrol officer in a preliminary report said he responded to a call of a traffic collison about 11:10 a.m Sunday and found the motorcycle lying on its left side in the fourth lane. The officer also observed Zeri and Cameron lying on the ground in lanes three and four.

Zeri was splitting the third and fourth lanes at roughly 15 to 20 mph when his motorcycle for an unknown reason veered left and collided with the big-rig's right side trailer wheels. Zeri and Cameron fell off the motorcycle and went under the right rear of the trailer's double wheels, causing fatal injuries.

The accident remains under investigation. It occurred about a half hour after another non-fatal collision involving Love Ride motorcyclists at roughly the same spot of the freeway.

The 52-year-old driver of the tractor-trailer was not arrested.

The Love Ride is an annual event that dates back to November 1984. The fundraiser has drawn celebrity riders such as Peter Fonda, Jay Leno and Larry Hagman and has featured musical acts such as Robbie Krieger, Billy Idol, Jackson Browne and Dwight Yoakam.

The 2011 Love Ride raised money for Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, treatmens and a cure for autism.

Oliver Shokouh, the founder and chairman of Love Ride, said in a statement on the group's website that "our family of riders" mourn the loss of their friends and offered their condolences to the friends and families of Zeri and Cameron.

Editor's Note: Updated to add statement from Love Ride founder.