One hospitalized after Murrieta rollover
MURRIETA — Officials are investigating the cause of a solo-vehicle rollover traffic accident in Murrieta that left one person hospitalized Monday evening, June 3. Last night’s crash happened on Lemon St., east of Jefferson Ave., on the city’s west end.
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City of Murrieta Police and Fire Departments, along with AMR and other emergency personnel, were first alerted to the crash just before 10:45 p.m., when multiple area residents called 911 to report seeing or hearing the crash. Callers reported the vehicle had overturned multiple times after hitting a pole and that the driver was possibly unconscious and trapped inside the pickup truck.
When fire and rescue personnel arrived they found a heavily damaged Chevrolet Silverado 2500 on its passenger side. The adult male driver and sole occupant of the truck had been wearing his seat belt and was still buckled into his seat inside the overturned vehicle.
Firefighters work to cut the roof off a pickup truck that overturned last night in Murrieta. Joe Fanaselle photo
Firefighters confirmed the driver was trapped inside the mangled wreckage of the truck and quickly set up telescopic struts to stabilize the vehicle and prepared to use the “Jaws of Life” to perform a cut and rescue operation to free the injured driver.
Once the pickup was stabilized, firefighters cut away the vehicle’s roof and extricated the driver, who reportedly suffered minor to moderate injuries. The victim was eventually transported by ground ambulance to an area hospital. His current condition was not immediately available.
Officers who investigated the crash determined that the driver was traveling eastbound on Lemon St. at high speed when it approached a cul-de-sac style at the end of the street. The driver failed to slow down or turn around at the end of the road and his pickup truck traveled up and over the curb where it plowed head-on into a light pole.
The impact caused the truck to overturn multiple times before it came to rest on its side and sheared the concrete light standard off at its base, launching the pole’s large base about 40 feet. According to witnesses at the scene, debris from the shattered pole was thrown as far as 250 feet from the scene of the crash.
A tow truck eventually righted the pickup back onto its wheels while firefighters worked to clean up diesel fuel and other fluids that spilled from the overturned truck.
Officials continued to work at the scene until around 1 a.m., according to witnesses.
Murrieta PD is still working to determine if alcohol or drug intoxication were contributing factors in last night’s crash and their investigation is ongoing.
Special thanks to Joe Fanaselle for his on-scene reporting and photographs.
Click any image to open full-size gallery.
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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