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Beloved bike proves twice deadly
Revised December 28, 2001
By ALICIA CALDWELL, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rogers brothers did everything together. They worked at the same printing company. Lived together. Played basketball together. The St. Petersburg men also died after wrecking the same 1997 Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle in traffic accidents 19 months apart. Keith Rogers, 31, died last week. Tiwan Rogers, 27, died in May 2000. "It's unbelievable," said Alphonso Rogers Gregory, 50, father of the two men. "It's so strange that it would happen in such a short period." The father said he had tried to persuade his older son to get rid of the cycle after Tiwan died. But keeping the motorcycle was Keith's way of holding his brother's memory close to him. "I guess it was that connection," said Alphonso Rogers Gregory. "They were about as close as two brothers could be." Keith Rogers was driving fast on 22nd Avenue S the afternoon of Dec. 20 when he apparently lost control of the motorcycle and smashed into the back of a car that was slowing to make a turn onto 28th Street, according to a St. Petersburg police report. That car hit another, and Keith Rogers was thrown about 90 feet before landing on a curb. The report said he suffered severe head injuries and was taken to Bayfront Medical Center. His father said he was not wearing a helmet. Keith Rogers died Friday. No charges were filed in the accident. Tiwan's accident happened a mile and a half away, at 9:40 p.m. on May 10, 2000. Police said he was speeding south on Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) Street S when he locked up the motorcycle's rear brake and lost control. The Kawasaki hit a curb and Tiwan Rogers was thrown. He was taken to Bayfront Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead within the hour. Tiwan's father recalls that his son was wearing a helmet. No charges were filed in the accident. Tiwan left behind six children; Keith had four. "Our desire is to do the best we can to support those children," said Connie Rogers, 44, stepmother to Tiwan and Keith. "It's a very difficult time for the family." The brothers attended St. Petersburg High School, said their father. Both had worked for Webb Offset Direct Printing. Both were members of Mount Zion Progressive Baptist Church. Their sister, Chastity Rogers, 23, said her brothers were different in appearance -- Tiwan was small and chiseled while Keith was heavyset and deep-voiced. But she said both had deep dimples and electric smiles that frequently came into play. "They just had big personalities," she said. "They demanded attention. When they walked into a room, they had that vibrance that just made you turn and look. Women loved them." This love for life encompassed one passion their mother came to worry deeply about: the motorcycle. Tiwan felt pretty strongly about it, said Norma Jean Bell, mother of both Rogers brothers. "He loved that motorcycle, yes he did," Bell said. "He taught Keith how to ride it." After Tiwan's death, she urged Keith to sell it. "I didn't want him to have the bike, but he said, 'That's my brother's bike and I want it,' " she recalled. Closing her eyes, she said that after your children grow up, there is only so much parents can do to keep them safe. There comes a point, she said, when you cannot make their choices anymore. But as Bell shared her grief, she asked a favor. "Can you do just one thing for me?" she asked, tears dripping from her face. "Tell people this: If it's nothing but just picking up a phone, tell your sister or your mom you love them. You don't know. You don't know how quickly things can change."
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