Pinned under car that hit him, tow truck driver hospitalized

UPDATED: Friday, Jan 18, 2:50 p.m., With additional details.

BEAUMONT — A tow truck driver who was left pinned underneath a vehicle after he was struck Thursday afternoon, Jan. 17, was eventually pulled from under the vehicle, fire officials have reported. The crash happened on Beaumont Ave., south of California Ave., in Beaumont.

The tow truck driver, believed to have been a Desert Towing employee, had been in the process of loading a disabled vehicle on a flat-bed tow truck when another car plowed into the stranded sedan and tow truck. He was hospitalized with moderate injuries after the collision.

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CHP and other emergency personnel were first alerted to the accident shortly before 1 p.m., after receiving reports of a tow truck driver who had been hit by a vehicle and was pinned underneath the wreckage.

When officials arrived they found one victim trapped and pinned under the vehicle that had struck him and the vehicle he was loading onto the tow vehicle. Firefighters quickly used specialized equipment to lift the wrecked vehicles off the trapped victim and freed him. AMR then transported the tow employee to an area hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries that one fire official described as moderate.

A tow truck driver was hospitalized after a vehicle plowed into a stranded sedan and tow truck. Mark Henley photo

“Firefighters extricated one victim who was pinned under a vehicle,” CalFire/Riverside County Fire Department said in a social media release on Twitter. “The victim was transported to an area hospital by ground ambulance with moderate injuries.”

While firefighters worked at the scene, CHP called for the temporary closure of Beaumont Ave., between California Ave. and 1st St. The roadway was reopened around 1:30 p.m.

CHP is investigating the cause of the accident and their investigation is ongoing.

This is a developing story that will be updated as new information is available.

Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 47, moved last year to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle, and Anza Valley Outlook; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta 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. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s 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 28 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 15 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren.

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