Snow & icy road leads to Sage Rd. 10-vehicle wreck

HEMET — Snowfall, black ice, and driving described by CHP as “unsafe for the weather and roadway conditions,” are being called contributing factors in a multiple-vehicle, chain-reaction crash on Sage Rd. yesterday afternoon, Thursday, Feb. 21. The numerous crashes caused at least one vehicle to overturn and sent several others careening off the road and down embankments along a winding section of the roadway.

The crash, which involved as many as ten vehicles, forced the temporary closure of the popular and heavily traveled road that connects the San Jacinto and Anza valleys.

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CHP, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire, and other emergency personnel, were dispatched to the scene after receiving multiple reports of several vehicles that had crashed south of Southern Hills Nursery, and about a mile north of Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Station 28.

When officials arrived they found numerous vehicles that had been involved in several different, but related crashes. One of the wrecked vehicles, described as a Volvo station wagon, was overturned and on its roof. Other vehicles were found crashed into guard rails, trees, and the mountainside, while several others were found to have gone partially down an embankment along the side of the two-lane state route.

Although no injuries were reported, the roadway was temporarily blocked and impassable in both directions.

CHP used the push bars on their patrol vehicles to push several of the wrecked vehicles to the side of the road to allow other vehicles to get through and continue to their destinations.

Officials also called on citizens stuck in the traffic who had trucks with winches to assist in pulling vehicles from the embankment and back onto the roadway, just as snow plows and tow trucks began arriving in the area to assist.

Contacted for information about the multiple crashes, CHP reminded area residents and commuters to use extra caution when driving in the snow and on the wet highway. CHP also reminded motorists to allow more time to reach their desired destinations, due to the road conditions.

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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.