Bob Zingg said he answered his phone Tuesday and it was a detective. Zingg said he has been doing detective work of his own — for the same tragedy.
His son Aidan, a 16-year-old rising motocross star, died Saturday during a mid-race crash on a dirt track in Mammoth Lakes, California, about 300 miles north of Los Angeles.
Zingg said he spoke with two riders who were in the race, and what they told him about the crash conflicted with what race officials told him. The Mammoth Lakes Police Department is also investigating the death, according to a press release on the police department’s website.
‘I was told by the head of the event’s safety that Aidan was involved in a crash by himself,’ Zingg said during an interview with USA TODAY Sports.
But, Zingg said, one rider told him that after crashing, Aidan ended up under that rider’s bike and Aidan ‘got up and was going to his bike.” A second rider said he witnessed it, according to Zingg, who added, ‘Some people said he didn’t move at all. And (another rider) said that he saw him push the bike off of him.’
USA TODAY Sports is not publishing names of the riders because they are minors.
“(The riders) were both very upset, crying, and I told them, ‘Guys… that it was a racing incident.’ They’re all good boys. I know that nobody did anything on purpose.”
Added Zingg, ‘I’m just, ‘Why, the discrepancy in the story?”
Was there negligence?
Zingg said the officials he talked to included flaggers, who are responsible for putting the race under caution after a crash. ‘To let the riders know that there’s an incident ahead of them, to slow down so that they don’t injure themselves or the person who’s down or injured,’ Zingg said.
Zinng and his wife, Shari, said they’re waiting for answers on whether there was negligence or delayed reactions that could have prevented what happened.
Myron Short, the race promoter, said Aidan’s death resulted from chest trauma.
‘My flagger that witnessed it said he seen (Aidan Zingg) high-side flying through the air and hit the ground and he never gained consciousness at all. … Flaggers were all there on him, working on him doing CPR instantly. The flagger and the medics.’
Father held his dying son
By the time Zingg reached the site of the crash, he said, ‘they’re cutting off his chest protector and starting to work on him doing chest compressions and stuff like that. I hold his head and I go up to his ear and I’m like, ‘Aidan, please don’t go, buddy. Please don’t go.”
Aidan was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Mono County Coroner’s office is conducting an investigation, according to the Mammoth Lakes Police Department. Shari Zingg said they’re also hoping an autopsy will help provide clarity.
The Zinggs said they have no information about the autopsy results. Mammoth Lakes Police Department directed inquiries about the autopsy to the Mono County Sheriff’s Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for information sent by email.
Speculation on social media that Aidan ran into a tree or was landed on by another rider coming off a jump are untrue, according to Zingg.
Undersized among other riders at 5-foot-7, Aidan still ascended to the top ranks of amateurs last year by winning his first AMA national championship. It happened at Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, the most prestigious event in motocross.
On Tuesday, Bob and Shari Zingg were grappling with the loss of their son.
“My son died with me holding him,’’ Bob Zingg said. “That’s going to be something that haunts me forever.’’
