PERRIS – Hemet man charged with murder after fiery DUI wreck killed motorcyclist
UPDATE #4: 09/21/2016 4:14 p.m.
Ramiro Israel Alvarado, 19, of Hemet, was charged with murder following an April traffic collision that killed Wesley Erickson, 52, of Riverside.
PERRIS – A Hemet resident has been arrested and charged with murder related to an April 10 traffic collision that killed Wesley Erickson, a 52-year-old Riverside resident in a vehicle versus motorcycle collision. The fiery wreck that killed Erickson happened at about 8:55 p.m.
After the fatal accident, sheriff’s investigators had blood drawn from Alvarado to determine if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“Upon further investigation by the Perris Traffic Reconstruction Unit and review by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, it was determined that Ramiro Israel Alvarado, 19, of Hemet, was driving while under the influence of drugs at the time of this fatal traffic collision,” Riverside Sheriff’s Sergeant J.P. Strang wrote in a press release about the fatal accident.
The sheriff’s department has not yet released what drug or drugs Alvarado’s toxicology report revealed he was under the influence of at the time of the deadly wreck.
Alvarado, who already had a prior conviction for driving under the influence and was driving while unlicensed, was taken into custody at the Perris Sheriff’s Station Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 3:50 p.m.
After his arrest, Alvarado was transported to the Southwest Detention Facility where he was booked on suspicion of murder.
He is being held in lieu of one million dollars bail and is scheduled to be seen at the Riverside Hall of Justice Sept. 22.
UPDATED #3: 04/20/2016 9:45 p.m.
The Riverside County Coroner’s office has identified the victim killed in a fiery vehicle versus motorcycle collision that happened Sunday, April 10 as Wesley Erickson, 52, of Riverside.
The deadly collision happened on Navajo Road south of W. San Jacinto Avenue in Perris when Ramiro Israel Alvarado, 19 years of Hemet, smashed head-on into a motorcycle Erickson had been riding southbound on Navajo Road.
A release from the coroner’s office indicated Erickson was struck by Alvarado’s vehicle at 8:55 p.m. He died about 15 minutes later at 9:10 p.m.
Alvarado, who had been driving northbound reportedly crossed the center median for an unknown reason when his grey Honda Civic collided with Erickson’s motorcycle.
The impact was so severe, Erickson’s motorcycle burst into flames upon impact.
Paramedics and other emergency first responders attempted to provide life saving measures to Erickson; however, the downed rider succumbed to his injuries and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
UPDATED: 04/11/2016 3:40 p.m.
PERRIS – A motorcyclist died in a fiery crash involving another vehicle on Navajo Road in the city of Perris, Sunday, April 10, according to a sheriff official.
Deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Perris Police Station and other emergency first responders rushed to the scene of the fatal collision after the sheriff’s emergency communications center received multiple 911 calls about the incident at 8:58 p.m.
Reports from both the sheriff’s department and CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department indicated a gray Honda Civic traveling northbound on Navajo Road crossed the center median and collided head-on with a motorcycle that had been traveling southbound.
The impact was so severe, the motorcycle burst into flames upon impact. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames while paramedics attempted to provide life saving measures to the downed rider, who sustained major traumatic injuries.
The motorcyclist, who has not yet been identified pending notification of their family, succumbed to their injuries and was pronounced dead on scene, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s Sergeant J.P. Strang.
“The driver of the Honda Civic, an 18-year-old male from Hemet, was transported to a local hospital where he was treated for his non-life threatening injuries,” Strang wrote in a press release about the fatal collision.
The Perris Traffic Reconstruction Unit responded to the location and conducted an accident investigation. The north and southbound lanes of Navajo Rd. were both closed for about four hours during the accident investigation, according to Strang.
The road was reportedly re-opened at about 1 a.m. the following morning.
This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this accident is encouraged to contact Deputy Bryan at the Perris Sheriff’s Station at (951) 210-1000. Callers can refer to incident file number PE161010109 and can remain anonymous. Citizens may also submit a tip using the Sheriff’s CrimeTips online form.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, Personnel and Background Investigations and he finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator.
Trevor has been married for more than 26 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and has 13 children and 12 grandchildren.
Not one but two lives completely destroyed because of the US’ lack of resolve to cut off drug supplies from Mexico. Would proactive drug enforcement create “too much” of a war on drugs? I wonder how afraid the government is of the cartels? I’ve read that a good way to lose your life in Mexico is to be in law enforcement or in government anti-drug trafficking work and actually refuse to be corrupted by the influence and intimidation of the cartels and their militarized infrastructure. The longer we wait to resolve to resist the harder it will be. Educating people about drug abuse in the style of Nancy Reagan and DARE programs has proven ineffective. The government should invest more in protecting its citizens from this influence and prepare for the blowback from that resolve.
A followup on my previous comment. This disturbing headline hardly made a ripple amid all the noise about current election politics but the judge presiding over the El Chapo drug cartel case was assassinated outside his home in broad daylight. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/18/el-chapo-judge-assassinated-while-jogging-outside-his-home/
Like I said, we will need strong resolve, strategy and will to shield ourselves from the cartels’ influence and violently preemptive hostility toward anyone and anything that impedes or resists their business and distribution network in any way.