LAKEVIEW: Nine injured in multi-vehicle, “mass-casualty” accident

LAKEVIEW – Nine people were injured in an early-morning, multiple-vehicle crash Sunday, Feb. 19. The accident happened in the area of Gilman Springs Road and Eden Hot Springs Road in the unincorporated community of Lakeview. Lakeview is southeast of Moreno Valley and northwest of Hemet.

A total of four vehicles were involved in the accident and authorities are investigating the collision as a possible DUI, California Highway Patrol Sergeant Zeke Rodriguez said from the scene.

Witnesses reported the driver of one of the vehicles, described as a grey, full-size pickup truck, caused the collision when the truck drifted into oncoming lanes of traffic. Several people stated after the accident that the driver of the truck appeared to be intoxicated after the collision.

Emergency first responders were dispatched to the scene of the wreck about 1:31 a.m., after numerous people called 911 to report the multiple vehicle accident.

Twenty-five firefighters from six engine companies and one truck company responded to the collision, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Public Information Officer April Newman. They were assisted by a paramedic squad and AMR medics. A total of nine ambulances were dispatched to the accident.

When firefighters arrived they discovered the mangled wrecks of three vehicles. Vehicles and debris from the collision were strewn about the roadway, blocking both directions of travel. Firefighters also found numerous victims requiring immediate medical evaluation and treatment.

“The first arriving company officer reported a mass-casualty incident involving (nine) patients,” Newman explained. Firefighters found two of the victims trapped inside a wrecked vehicle. They also found one vehicle over the embankment.

Based on the number of injured victims and the severity of their injuries, firefighters requested additional resources to the scene.

Gilman Springs Road was closed in both directions for over an hour while firefighter/paramedics triaged and treated the victims and California Highway Patrol conducted an investigation into the major-injury traffic collision.

Firefighters used the “jaws of life” to extricate the two trapped victims.

All nine patients were eventually transported by ground ambulances to area hospitals. Three of the victims were transported with critical injuries, two with moderate injuries, and four with minor injuries, Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Battalion Chief Mark League explained after the incident.

The investigation into this accident is active and ongoing.

Anyone with information about this collision or who witnessed the accident is encouraged to contact CHP officials at (951) 769-2000.

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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.