Driver involved in the death of actor Treat Williams revealed as Ryan Koss
Actor Treat Williams was conscious and alert after being thrown from his motorcycle, answering questions from paramedics as he was sprawled out on the pavement, DailyMail.com can reveal.
‘He was totally alert, answering questions,’ said Matt Rapphahn, the owner of Long Trail Auto on Route 30, adjacent to the crash site.
Matt, 29, was standing outside his shop when the crash took place right in front of him.
Ryan Koss, who DailyMail.com is picturing for the first time, was driving his Honda Element SUV on Route 30, turning into the auto shop parking lot when he collided with the motorcycle.
‘I saw Treat go flying through the air,’ Matt said.
Williams, wearing a helmet, was left sprawled out on the pavement a few feet from his motorcycle.
‘The tire was still spinning,’ he added.
The Golden Globe-nominated actor, 71, was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries before being pronounced dead on Monday in Vermont.
Reports released by Vermont State Police revealed that Williams didn’t stand a chance as the Honda cut across the northbound lane of the V-30 into his $3,500 bike.
Koss, 35, attempted to turn left onto Morse Hill Road into a parking lot and came to a stop as he indicated at around 4:53pm.
He was ‘checked by medical personnel at the scene for minor injuries’ but was not taken to a hospital and has not been arrested by officers.
Koss was not intoxicated, cops say, as they probe who was responsible for the fatal incident.
Williams and Koss in all likelihood knew each other, as Koss works at the theater where Williams performed American Buffalo in 2017.
The police report states that ‘Williams was unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle.’
Immediately after the crash, a crowd gathered around offering help, including a nurse who lives in a house next door. Matt directed traffic until emergency crews arrived.
‘He was totally laid out, and they were asking him basic questions, like ”do you know where you are,” and ”what’s your wife’s name,” that kind of stuff,’ Matt recalled. ‘And he was responsive. He seemed like he was awake the whole time because, obviously, when they had to move him, you could see he was in a great deal of pain. They loaded him up into the ambulance and drove off.’
‘Honestly, I was pretty hopeful that he was going to pull through,’ Matt said.
He said Williams was a regular customer – a classic car and motorcycle enthusiast who’d bring his vehicles in for repairs and restoration work.
‘He stopped into the shop just a few weeks ago and made some appointments for his vehicles,’ Matt said. ‘He pulled up here in his old Apache pickup truck, a blue ’57 Chevy. We were talking about actors going on strike right now, and he seemed kind of grumpy about it. He wanted to get back to work acting.’
‘We talked about airplanes too because he was an airplane enthusiast,’ he added.
‘I’d run into him in town all the time,’ he said. ‘He’d share some stories. He had such a good laugh. He was a great guy, super nice. This was his home. This was his community.’
He said Williams was also exceptionally generous and once wrote a check to repair the home of one of Matt’s mechanic friends after a fire.
‘People around here have been using that old cliché all day – that for somebody who is Hollywood famous, he was totally chill,’ he said.