ENTIAT - An East Wenatchee kindergarten teacher is dead after the motorcycle he was riding struck a downed pine tree hidden by a bush on a U.S. Forest Service dirt road about three miles north of Entiat.

The Chelan County Sheriff's Office says 31-one-year-old Joshua D. Putman went into cardiac arrest after the collision on Friday night.

Putman was in his first year of teaching an all-day kindergarten class at Robert E. Lee Elementary School in East Wenatchee.

Putman and his father, 51-year-old Dwayne D. Putman, were riding in the area known as Oklahoma Gulch when the accident occurred. His father reported the accident.

The sheriff's office says Putman's father told deputies he was following his son and saw him accelerate on a straight section of dirt road before suddenly going down.

The exact cause of Joshua Putnam's death will be determined by the Chelan County Coroner's Office.

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