“Go buy a lottery ticket … Now!” witness tells driver after Hemet wreck
HEMET, Calif. — A man escaped injury after losing control of his vehicle and careening into a telephone pole, before hitting a parked pickup truck around noon yesterday, Thursday, Jan. 21.
The accident, which sheared the pole in half, destroyed the involved vehicle, and damaged the parked truck, happened on State Street south of Esplanade Avenue in Hemet.
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City of Hemet Police and Fire departments along with AMR medics were dispatched to the scene after receiving reports of a vehicle that crashed into a pole. 911 callers also reported the pole was destroyed and left dangling in mid-air by the impact.
The first engine company to arrive at the scene reported finding a heavily damaged blue Honda Civic and a telephone pole that was sheared off at the base. A white Ford truck that had been parked near where the Honda came to rest was also at the scene and sustained minor to its driver’s side.
“I can’t believe he wasn’t killed in that wreck,” one witness told RCNS; adding, “He needs to go out and buy a lottery ticket, and I mean like right now.” Timothy Franzese/Public Safety Incidents photo
The driver who survived the crash was up and walking around and appeared to have been uninjured in the crash.
At that time AMR was canceled from responding and telephone company crews were requested to the scene to replace the pole that was destroyed in the accident.
Authorities who investigated the cause of the collision determined the driver of the Honda had been traveling northbound on State Street at an undetermined speed when he lost control. As the car careened out of control it smashed first into the telephone pole before continuing into the parked pickup truck.
No injuries were reported after the accident, which caused the number two lane of State Street to be closed to facilitate the damaged pole’s replacement.
An employee at one of the local businesses who requested to remain anonymous later told RCNS he heard the impact of the collision and ran to the driver’s aid.
“That has got to be one of the luckiest guys I’ve ever met. I can’t believe nobody else was injured and that he wasn’t killed in that wreck,” the witness said; adding, “He needs to go out and buy a lottery ticket, and I mean like right now.”
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Timothy Franzese/Public Safety Incidents photos
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Trevor Montgomery, 49, 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 KRCR News Channel 7 and Mountain Echo in Shasta County, Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego 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 30 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 18 grandchildren.
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