Friends remember 22-year-old who died following dirt bike crash in Cave Creek

CAVE CREEK, Ariz. - A Cave Creek family is mourning the death of a 22-year-old man who was killed when his dirt bike collided with a tractor.

According to police, officers tried to pull over 22-year-old Cole Molina for speeding, minutes before the crash.

Friends describe Molina as a fun-loving adrenaline junkie who was known to push the limits while enjoying life.

“He wasn’t just alive. He was living all the time,” said Sean Gilson. “Everything he was going. He was having a good time.”

Molina's childhood friends say he was the life of the party, and are grateful for the memories they've made.

“The kind of friend who you’d get in trouble with, but drop everything to get you out of trouble,” said Mason Berry.

Friends say Molina loved being outdoors and riding his dirt bike, and was known to speed around his neighborhood on it.

“We couldn’t tell him enough times. ‘Dude, you better slow down. Chill out a little bit,’” said Gilson.

According to Investigators, Phoenix Police tried to pull Molina over near 56th street and Rancho Paloma for speeding, after the radar caught him going 60 miles per hour (ca. 97 km/h) in a 35 miles per hour zone. However, when he turned down a road, they lost sight of him as he sped away.

The neighborhood street wasn't paved, and investigators say Molina crashed into a tractor that was grading the road, and flew off of his dirt bike at an intersection.

Now, Molina’s friends are facing a devastating reality, as they begin their adult lives.

“When you’re young like us, you think you’re invincible, and this kind of shows us that were not,” said Berry.

Friends say before Molina died, he had spent time with his mother and younger sister.

MCSO is still investigating the crash.