Suspected DUI crash turns out to be medical crisis
HEMET — Reports of a suspected drunk driver who was seen careening through Hemet’s Seven Hills community this afternoon turned out to be a man who paramedics believe suffered a diabetes-related medical crisis.
Officers dispatched to the senior-living community found the semi-conscious driver inside his truck, after it had reportedly smashed into several vehicles and other stationary objects, before becoming wedged and stuck between a house and a tree.
LEADING THE RCNS HEADLINES:
UPDATE: Rescue efforts praised after horse and rider pulled from muddy sinkhole
Skydivers plummet onto Elsinore roof after mid-air collision
Hemet police officers were dispatched to the neighborhood around 1:40 p.m., after receiving multiple reports of a driver seen in a white pickup truck crashing into other vehicles and stationary objects while driving randomly along several streets within the community.
Officers who arrived in the area were initially unable to locate the reckless driver, but soon reported hearing screeching tires and smelling burning rubber in the area.
Within moments, officers found a white pickup that had crashed into a home and become wedged against a tree, near the intersection of Basswood and Jasmine ways. As officers cautiously approached the vehicle, they could see what appeared to be an unconscious man in the driver’s seat.
The man’s foot was apparently pressing on the truck’s accelerator, causing the rear tires to spin on the sidewalk, sending tire rubber spewing behind the vehicle, along with a cloud of thick, black smoke into the air.
After contacting the driver, officers quickly determined the man was possibly suffering a diabetic-related medical crisis and immediately requested paramedics and an ambulance crew to the scene. The driver was eventually transported to Hemet Valley Hospital for further treatment of what one official at the scene referred to as “possibly diabetic shock.”
The victim’s truck was eventually unwedged from its stuck position between the home and tree and was towed from the scene.
No further information or details were immediately available and the driver’s condition had not been updated.
Click any image to open full-size gallery.
Gary Rainwater photos
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.
Pingback: Unborn child seriously injured in Riverside wreck – Riverside County News Source