Crime & Safety

Man Struck, Killed by Suspected Drugged Driver on Corona Expressway

The crash happened around 11 a.m. Friday on the expressway, just north of the Riverside (91) Freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A motorist who had pulled over on the shoulder of the Corona Expressway was killed Friday when an SUV with a suspected drugged driver behind wheel crashed into him as he was standing outside his vehicle, according to the Highway Patrol.

The crash happened around 11 a.m. on the expressway, just north of the Riverside (91) Freeway, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Travis Monks.

Gregory Ethan Gurney, 22, of Corona was headed north in his Hyundai Santa Fe when he allowed the compact SUV to drift off the road and onto the right shoulder, Monks said.

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He said the Hyundai slammed into a 1999 Jeep Wrangler parked on the shoulder with a trailer attached. The Wrangler's driver, a 26-year-old Riverside man whose name was not immediately released, was standing outside the Jeep, and the force of the impact threw him down an embankment.

He was pronounced dead at Corona Regional Medical Center.

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The Hyundai overturned in traffic lanes, leaving Gurney with moderate injuries, according to Monks, who said the suspect was transported to Riverside Community Hospital and was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of drugs, resulting in great bodily injury.

Gurney will not be booked into jail until he's cleared to leave the hospital.

The Expressway's northbound lanes were shut down until 3 p.m. while an investigation was conducted and debris hauled away.

— City News Service.


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