Three juveniles injured after off-road vehicle flips in Menifee field
MENIFEE — Three teenage girls were hospitalized after a rollover accident involving an off-road vehicle that overturned in a dirt field Saturday afternoon, Nov. 18. The accident happened southeast of Newport and Briggs Roads in Menifee.
Fire officials and paramedics provide medical aid to a teenage girl who was left trapped inside an off-road vehicle that overturned in Menifee. Nathan Wilking/Fire Department Incidents/Riverside County
Emergency first responders were dispatched to the scene of the accident about 4:17 p.m., after a frantic family member called 911 to report the accident.
Deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Menifee Police and Perris Sheriff’s Stations were the first emergency personnel to arrive at the scene of the rollover accident. They were followed by Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire and American Medical Response officials.
When they arrived deputies found a four-wheel drive, side-by-side, UTV upside down and in a three-foot deep drainage ditch.
Two girls who were trapped inside the overturned, off-road vehicle could be heard screaming for help while anxious family members, who had responded to the scene of the wreck, watched on. A third girl who had managed to crawl out from the wrecked and overturned UTV was sitting dazed on the ground near the overturned vehicle waiting for help.
None of the victim’s names were released because of their ages.
Firefighters and paramedics immediately began treating the injured teen who had crawled out of the UTV, while other firefighters worked to free the two other trapped girls and provide them with medical aid. (See Fire Department Incidents/Riverside County video below)
AMR medics eventually transported all three teenage victims to Inland Valley Medical Center for further evaluation and treatment. Their injuries were described as minor to moderate.
Kayleen Powell, who lives near where the accident happened, later explained she had seen the three girls racing the off-road UTV around in the field before the accident happened.
“I saw them driving recklessly all morning,” said Powell, who described that the three girls had been speeding back and forth in the field, racing up and down the small hills and doing “donuts.”
“They had stopped for a while but then I heard them going again,” Powell explained. “I didn’t think anything of it until I heard the crash and the girls screaming for help.”
Powell said before she could do anything to help the victims, the first law enforcement officers were already arriving at the scene.
According to Powell, none of the juveniles were wearing helmets when the accident happened and there were no adults supervising the teens while they recklessly raced around in the field.
“They’ve done this so many times before,” Powell lamented. “I just knew this would happen someday.”
Sheriff’s officials are investigating the cause of the off-road accident. Their investigation is active and ongoing.
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Nathan Wilking/Fire Department Incidents/Riverside County
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Trevor Montgomery, who recently moved from Riverside County to Shasta County, runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, The Valley Chronicle and Anza Valley Outlook as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County.
Trevor 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, breaking his back and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident.
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center and Lake Elsinore Station, along with 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 and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 27 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 14 grandchildren.