Winchester side-swipe crash leaves 2 cars overturned

WINCHESTER — A pair of drivers escaped serious injuries after their vehicles collided, causing both cars to overturn onto their roofs Tuesday afternoon, June 11. The minor injury crash happened on Winchester Rd. and Patterson Ave., in the unincorporated community of Winchester.

LEADING THE RCNS HEADLINES:

Woman dies in fiery Hemet rollover wreck

Hemet woman, 61, killed after vehicle hit broadside

Hemet man killed during small plane’s very first flight

CHP and other emergency personnel were dispatched to the crash around 3:30 p.m., after receiving multiple 911 calls reporting the accident. 911 callers, including an off-duty law enforcement officer, reported two vehicles had overturned along a sweeping “S” curve along Winchester Rd., after the vehicles were nearly involved in a head-on collision.

When officials arrived they found a grey Toyota Avalon and dark-colored Ford Fiesta upside down and on their roofs. The Toyota was off the roadway and the Ford was near the center of the two-lane road. Both directions of travel were blocked and vehicles were using the dirt shoulders to pass the overturned vehicles.

Numerous witnesses and good Samaritans, including the officer and an off-duty nurse, had stopped at the scene and were helping the two drivers from their wrecked vehicles.

While paramedics evaluated and treated the two drivers, CHP investigated the cause of the collision. During their investigation they determined the driver of the Toyota was traveling northbound on Winchester Rd. when he failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway and drifted onto the dirt shoulder. The driver over-corrected, causing his vehicle to fishtail and careen across the two-lane road, where it sideswiped the oncoming Ford.

The impact between the two cars caused both to overturn and both came to rest on their roofs.

Both vehicles were later towed from the scene and CHP’s crash investigation is ongoing.

Click any image to open full-size gallery.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Robert Carter/Public Safety Incidents 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.