Authorities Release Identity of Deceased Harley Rider

The Menomonee Falls man who died when his Harley-Davidson motorcycle failed to negotiate a curve in Dodge County has been identitifed as Steven V. Chapman, according to the Dodge County Sheriff's Department.

Authorities had withheld the identity of Chapman, 55, for several days because a family member was out of the country on vacation and scheduled to arrive back in the United States on Thursday.

Capt. Trace Frost, of the Sheriff’s Department in Dodge County, released the name Friday.

Chapman was riding alone and was found by a passing motorist at 5 a.m. Sunday. “It was not witnessed. We got a call in the morning. People could see the motorcycle in the ditch,” Frost said on Monday.

According to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department, Chapman was southbound on County Highway P in Dodge County when he “failed to negotiate a sweeping left-hand curve.” The motorcycle left the road and careened into a ditch. Chapman was ejected from the motorcycle when he tried to “correct the error,” the release said.  He was driving a 1990 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Frost said Monday that authorities “don’t know the cause, other than he went off the road on a curve.” He said it’s not believed that speed was a factor.

He said that Highway P is a county road running north to south that “gets a lot of traffic.” Chapman crashed on Highway P at Adams Road in the Township of Ashippun. The exact time of the accident is not known. The crash remains under investigation.