Menifee motorcyclist, 36, ID’d after fatal Ortega Hwy crash
UPDATED: Saturday, Aug. 15, 1 p.m., With coroner’s release of information.
LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. — Officials have identified a motorcyclist who died in a two-vehicle, head-on collision while riding on the Ortega Highway (SR-74), just west El Cariso Village, early Friday evening, Aug. 14.
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CHP, Cal Fire-Riverside and AMR were dispatched to the scene at 6:03 p.m., after receiving reports of the two-vehicle collision, CHP Officer Mike Lassig has since said of the deadly crash.
When officials arrived they determined the motorcyclist had already succumbed to his injuries and passed away at the scene.
Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner officials have since identified the motorcyclist as Marcos Murrieta, 36, of Menifee. A coroner’s release indicated Murrieta was pronounced deceased by responding medical personnel at 6:31 p.m.
During their subsequent investigation, CHP determined Murrieta had been riding a 2014 Kawasaki motorcycle westbound on SR-74, just west El Cariso Village, just before the deadly crash.
At the same time a motorist in a 2010 Toyota Prius was traveling eastbound approaching the motorcyclist. The driver of the Toyota has not been publicly identified.
According to Lassig, Murrieta was “traveling on a curve at a high rate of speed”, and “was unable to negotiate the curve in the roadway causing his motorcycle to travel across the solid double yellow lines directly toward the Toyota’s front end.”
As Murrieta’s motorcycle careened across the winding, two-lane mountain roadway, his motorcycle smashed into the front of the Toyota, according to Lassig; who said, the rider was ejected and landed on the south dirt shoulder area of SR-74.
After the deadly accident, Lassig used the opportunity to remind motorcyclists “to always travel at a safe and prudent speed which will allow the ability to maintain control and avoid traffic hazards”, and to “always ride using a high visual horizon.”
CHP’s investigation into the deadly crash is ongoing.
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Trevor Montgomery, 48, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; 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 29 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 16 grandchildren.