Crime & Safety

UPDATED: Multiple Crashes Leave Carnage On Local Roads

The body count climbed by Saturday morning.

UPDATED AT 10:44 A.M.: Three separate crashes Friday left multiple injuries and two men dead.

In an incident reported just before midnight Friday, five people were injured and one man killed in a two-vehicle crash in Perris. A teen-age motorist crossed the center divider of Highway 74 and slammed head-on into a car, fatally injuring the driver who died of his injuries today, a sheriff's sergeant said Saturday.

Sheriff's deputies were dispatched at 11:55 p.m. Friday to the highway east of Navajo Road. The driver of a Mazda Protege that was westbound on Highway 74 crossed into the path of a Ford Taurus traveling the opposite direction and crashed, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Ken Zunker said.

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The driver of the Taurus, identified by coroner's officials today as Robert Washington, 54, of Moreno Valley, died at Inland Valley Medical Center. All five occupants of the Mazda were juveniles and were sent to a local hospital for various injuries, Zunker said.

No arrests have been made as the crash remained under investigation. Alcohol does not appear to have played a role in the fatal crash, Zunker said.

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A crash at Watson and Menifee roads was also reported Friday. According to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Melody Hendrickson, the two-vehicle smash-up was reported around 4:18 p.m. and two people had to be extricated from the wreckage. Both were transported to an area hospital with moderate injuries, Hendrickson reported. The victims' identities were not released.

Earlier Friday, a 55-year-old Sun City man was killed in a car crash at Winchester and Scott roads.

Ronald Owens succumbed to his injuries at 12:10 p.m. Friday at Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta, where he was rushed following the 11:15 a.m. crash in Winchester, according to the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's Office.

The accident occurred as a 71-year-old Perris man entered the intersection heading west from Washington Street in a white 2007 Chevy Silverado pickup truck, California Highway Patrol reported.

The Perris man was going about 25 mph in a construction zone and was approaching a red light at Winchester, the responding CHP officer wrote in his report.

Owens, driving a blue 1993 Mercury Marquis, was traveling south on Winchester, approaching a green light at the Washington Street/Scott Road intersection. He was driving at approximately 45 mph, the officer wrote.

The Perris man allegedly entered the intersection against the red light. Consequently, his truck collided with the left side of Owens' car, causing major damages to both vehicles, CHP reported.

The truck came to rest facing in a northerly direction in the intersection, blocking the eastbound lanes of Scott.

The Marquis came to rest facing in an easterly direction, south of the intersection, blocking the northbound left turn lane of Winchester to Scott.

CAL FIRE/Riverside County firefighters responded to the scene, where they found one of the patients—presumably Owens—trapped in a vehicle. A cut-and-rescue operation was performed before both patients were transported by ambulance to the hospital, Hendrickson reported.

Owens had been wearing his seat belt when he was hit.

The other driver survived the crash with minor injures.

The accident was still under investigation as of Friday afternoon.

Alcohol use was not suspected. --City News Service and Patch Staff contributed to this report.


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