William David Lane (born February 6, 1970, in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

) is an American builder of custom

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

s, owner of Choppers Inc. in

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...

, known for his 2009 conviction and imprisonment in Florida for a drunk-driving incident in 2006, where Lane's driving caused the death of another biker/moped Lane became well known from his appearances on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

show

Biker Build-Off ''Biker Build-Off'' is a reality television series for the Discovery Channel. Created and narrated by Thom Beers, the series was originally conceived as a single special called ''The Great Biker Build-Off''. The show proved so popular that more e ...

. Lane has authored two books, an autobiography, ''Billy Lane's Chop Fiction: It's not a Motorcycle, Baby, It's a Chopper'' (2004, Motorbooks International) and ''Billy Lane's How to Build Old School Choppers, Bobbers And Customs'' (2005, Motorbooks International). Lane also holds an associate degree from

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

, graduating in 1997.

September 2006 drunk-driving fatal crash

On September 5, 2006, driving a promotional 2006 Dodge Ram on Florida Route A1A, his driving license having been revoked in a previous incident in North Carolina, Lane crossed a double yellow line to pass two cars, striking head-on the 1983 Yamaha motorcycle ridden by 56-year-old Gerald Morelock, a park ranger at Sebastian Inlet State Park, in the oncoming lane. Morelock suffered extensive injuries, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Lane turned himself in on Monday, September 21 in connection with the fatal crash, facing charges including

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

and

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

, his BAC having registered ''0.192'' at the scene of the crash, more than twice the Florida legal limit of ''0.08''. Gerald Morelock's family filed a lawsuit against Lane and

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

. Billy Lane entered a plea of "not guilty" the day he was officially charged with the second-degree felony. The incident drew a range of responses from the motorcycle community, with some calling for stiffer penalties because Lane was himself a motorcyclist, and others calling for leniency for the same reason. On August 14, 2009, Lane was convicted (pleading no contest) on one count of vehicular homicide and sentenced to 6 years in prison, 3 years of supervised probation, and loss for life of his driver's license. In arguing for the maximum sentence, the prosecuting attorney cited speeding violations and a pattern of poor driving on Lane's driving record. A judge had earlier approved a plea deal where prosecutors dropped the felony DUI and manslaughter charges. Prior to the plea deal, Lane had been facing up to 30 years in prison. Lane was incarcerated at the Avon Park Work Camp with a projected release date of 10/20/2014. As of 02/24/2013, according to the Florida Department of Corrections website, he was at the Orlando Transition Center (male facility) and released 09/18/2014. Previously, in June 2006, Lane had also been arrested by the North Carolina Highway Patrol and charged with drunk driving. After refusing to take a

breathalyzer A breathalyzer or breathalyser (a portmanteau of ''breath'' and ''analyzer/analyser''), also called an alcohol meter, is a device for measuring breath alcohol (drug), alcohol content (BrAC). It is commonly utilized by law enforcement officers ...

test at the scene and leaving prosecutors without evidence presentable in court, Lane was found not guilty. Because his license had, however, been revoked in North Carolina, he had lost his right to drive in Florida at the time of the fatal crash. Closures at his Choppers, Inc. shop at the time of his arrests were coincidental; it had been closed for renovation.

Video appearances

Monster Garage ''Monster Garage'' is an American reality television series that aired on the Discovery Channel and hosted by Jesse James (television personality), Jesse James. Each episode was an hour in length and was conceived and produced (along with James) ...

Big! Big! is a television program series in which an episode consists of a team of engineers manufacturing the world's biggest items (usually a household item that is normally hand carried, scaled up to proportions that make the items unusable withou ...

* Corbin's Ride On! * Blood, Sweat, and Gears Tour DVD starring Aaron Green, Kendall Johnson, Mondo Porras, Paul Cox and Jennifer Scott *

* American Biker

References

External links

* *
Billy Lane @ IMDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Billy 1970 births Living people Motorcycle builders Motorcycling writers Florida State University alumni Writers from Miami Florida International University alumni American automotive engineers American people convicted of manslaughter