The two young men, graduates of Malibu High School, struck a sedan that allegedly made a turn in front of their motorcycle on Pacific Coast Highway.
By Hans Laetz / Special to The Malibu Times
Two young Malibu men were killed Saturday night when the motorcycle they were riding struck a car that made a turn in front of them on Pacific Coast Highway near Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades.
Tyler Love and Keith Patrick Naylor, both 22, were on a motorcycle driven by Love southbound on Pacific Coast Highway at around 7:30 p.m. when the driver of a Mercedes sedan allegedly made a U-turn across the highway. The bike hit the car in the front left door, killing Love instantly. Naylor died on the way to a hospital, Los Angeles Police Department detectives said.
The driver of the car, Mark Paozella, 40, was not injured. Police said he is a resident of Coto de Caza in southern Orange County.
Although no citations have been issued yet, LAPD Detective Zack Hutchings said it appears Paozella made a U-turn across a double set of yellow lines, which is illegal.
“It’s just a tragic accident,” Hutchings said. “Either the motorcycle was going too fast, or the other driver made a turn that was inappropriate. Probably that was an illegal turn.”
Traffic detectives plan to examine the motorcycle wreckage this week to ascertain its speed at the time of impact. Both riders were wearing helmets, and the car’s driver showed no sign of intoxication, Hutchings said.
The men, both 2001 graduates of Malibu High School, were riding the motorcycle to Venice to meet Love’s brother at a restaurant, a family friend said.
Naylor and Love grew up together and met when they entered Malibu Park Junior High School as sixth graders. They belonged to a group of local boys who had grown up playing and surfing together.
“We were a group of five,” said their friend Sandro Dazzan. “Brian Rapf, Spencer Guilbert, Tyler and Keith and me. If we showed up with just two or three of us, people would ask where the others were.”
Love had taken a break from college to study in Italy, where he became interested in men’s fashion. Arriving back in the States last year, he had secured a prestigious men’s stylist internship at the Gucci salon in Beverly Hills and was studying for a degree in fashion at Brooks College in Long Beach.
Naylor was a 2005 UC Santa Barbara graduate, majoring in business. He was working at Pritchett-Rapf & Associates in Malibu and was studying to get a real estate license.
“He would just light up the office with his spirit and his spark,” said agent Matt Rapf, who had hired Naylor as his assistant while Naylor was studying for his license. “There wasn’t a person in the business who didn’t tell me how much they liked him when they first met him.”
Fellow Realtor Jim Rapf, who had watched Naylor and Love grow up with his son, Brian, said he was heartbroken over their deaths.
“These five kids were inseparable,” he said. “And all of them were really good kids.
“Malibu has never made better kids,” Rapf continued. “They were educated, they stayed out of trouble, they loved their sports and they loved their friends and families. I just want to make sure that people know these guys were among the best.”
Naylor is survived by his parents, Derry and Debera Naylor, brother Kevin and sister Kelley, all of Malibu, and grandmother Elaine Schireson of Brentwood.
Love is survived by his father, Don, mother Terri, sisters Tristin and Kelli, grandparents Sidney and Jackie Horwitz of St. Louis, Mo., and his uncles Dr. Lon Horwitz of Denver and Dr. Todd Horwitz of Tampa, Fla.
Services are planned for Love and Naylor this Friday, 11 a.m. at Bluffs Park. Their friends plan to arrange a paddle-out on Sunday at Zuma Beach.