Crash And Commotion Stir Quiet Lake Elsinore Neighborhood

A solo-vehicle crash in Lake Elsinore Wednesday night roused the quiet residential neighborhood of Canyon Hills.

The stir began when a young adult male driving a dark-colored convertible Mazda Miata crashed into a light pole near Canyon Hills Road and Whispering Willow Drive shortly before 9 p.m.

The man, who had not been identified by police at press time and appeared uninjured, displayed strange behavior after the crash, according to neighbors at the scene.

Whispering Willow Drive resident Greg Royse, 46, was walking into his front yard when his kids came running out of the house telling their father they heard a strange noise.

The family spotted the Mazda wreckage -- the car up on the curb, head on into the light pole, and a nearby stop sign mowed down.

"I saw the car that was crashed," Royse said, explaining that he alerted his son to call 911.

A man believed to be the Mazda's driver was "kind of jumping around ... I thought he was on something," Royse continued.

Neighbors tried to calm the man as Royse's son handed his dad a cell phone with a 911 dispatcher on the other end.

As Royse provided details to 911, he said the driver got back into the car and tried to leave the scene, but the mangled Mazda was too damaged to move so the man took off running down nearby Canopy Lane.

Neighbors began reporting to Royse that the Mazda had allegedly been spotted traveling at a high rate of speed moments before the crash.

As Royse stayed on the phone with 911, the driver apparently became frantic and took off running through nearby residences.

According to Royse, his own son spotted the man in their home during the chaos.

"Dad he was in the house and he went out the front door," Royse recalled his son saying.

"The cops came over and went through our house with their guns and made sure no one was in there," the worried father explained.

Royse said the driver didn't seem like a threat, but his actions were odd.

"He seemed pretty hopped up. He could not stand still. He was constantly moving and running around. He just seemed like he wanted to get away," Royse explained.

A sheriff's helicopter was called in and police eventually located the man who was detained at the scene and later arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run, confirmed a sheriff's sergeant. Drugs or alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash, the sergeant said at press time. --Daniel Lane contributed to this report.