SARANAC LAKE — A Saranac Lake man injured in a motorcycle crash on state Route 3 Monday suffered abrasions and a broken right arm after he attempted to pass a vehicle on the shoulder while driving east, New York State Police say.

State Police Troop B Public Information Officer Jennifer Fleishman said Ivan Irvine, 24, was traveling east on a 2001 Suzuki motorcycle at around 1:49 p.m. when during an attempted pass on the road shoulder, his motorcycle struck guide wires and overturned numerous times. Irvine was ejected, Fleishman said.

She said he was initially transported to Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake and later flown by helicopter to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont.

Melissa Kline was driving west from Saranac Lake to Bloomingdale in the minutes after the crash and she saw the smashed motorcycle, and Irvine, in the road near the William A. Sweeney Certified Public Accountant building.

“He was definitely unconscious,” Kline said. She added that there were a couple of people there tending to him.

“I’m glad he’s OK, because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. Did I just see a fatality?'” Kine said.