Galloway Man Who Starred in Banned BMX Videos Dies in Accident

A Banned BMX rider from Galloway Township and his teammate died in an automobile accident Tuesday night, Sept. 20, ESPN.com reported on Thursday.

Gary Dimartine, 24, and his teammate Rickey Bates, 23, were en route to Phoenix from Las Vegas when the accident occurred, according to Bates' sponsor, the Shadow Conspiracy.

They were members of the Casselberry, FL, crew. Casselberry was Bates' hometown, according to the report.

Dimartine was originally from Galloway Township, although he spent the last several years going back and forth between Philadelphia and Central Florida, according to the ESPN report.

"There's a bike path over in Absecon he would go to. It was back in the woods, and he was really good," said Chris Sabatini, 23, who said he knew Dimartine when the two went to "He would always come (to the skate park next to ) and bike, and I would say hi to him in the halls."

Sabatini and his friends were at the skate park Thursday afternoon. Sabatini said he would see Demartine at the skate park from time to time after they graduated from high school, but he didn't know him beyond that. Dimartine graduated in 2005, and Sabatini graduated in 2006, Sabatini said.

"He liked to bike. He was always here and he was a nice kid," Sabatini said.

According to the Banned BMX blog, Dimartine and Bates were attending Interbike 2011 in Las Vegas.

Banned BMX is a video series created by Bates and featuring Dimartine. There are four DVDs, and multiple videos filmed by the two are posted on the Banned BMX website.