Crash victims seek info on car they say caused accident

Damage at the accident scene is visible hours after the collision.

 
By Doug Spoon, Editor

The occupants of a vehicle that was involved in a multi-vehicle accident on Bundy Canyon Road are asking for the public’s help in identifying the car they say caused the incident.

Deputies were dispatched to Bundy Canyon Road near Oak Canyon Drive in Wildomar at 1:18 a.m. on Jan. 1, according to Sgt. Wendy Brito-Gonzalez of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

“When deputies arrived, they learned five vehicles were involved,” wrote Brito-Gonzalez in an email to Menifee 24/7. “It appeared one of the vehicles had lost control, clipped a power pole, and ended up in a ditch. The other four vehicles struck the fallen wires and pole debris. Three occupants of the initial vehicle were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No other injuries were reported. The cause of the collision is under investigation.”

Brito-Gonzalez added that “not all parties have been interviewed as some were transported to the hospital with injuries.” It is those parties who say they have not yet had the opportunity to tell police about a sixth vehicle that fled from the scene after causing the accident.

Three of the four occupants of the vehicle that swerved off the road were hospitalized. The mother of one of the four occupants told Menifee 24/7 that a male victim “has a fractured spine and fractured ribs. He has a long road ahead of him along with the other two, who are doing the best they can, but emotionally going through a lot.”

The mother, who asked that her name not be used, said that the vehicle carrying her daughter and three others was traveling down the road when they were faced with the bright headlights of a car approaching at a high rate of speed on the wrong side of the road, heading right at them. In order to avoid a collision, the mother said, their vehicle swerved off the road, “ended up hitting a power line and then rolling and flying into a ditch. The car is crushed to nothing.”

The racing vehicle “didn’t hit our family, as they swerved to avoid the vehicle, and that vehicle left,” the mother said. “Unfortunately, they all were being tossed around and whatnot, to not know if anyone else was hit. As for the other car, our family can’t tell color or model, as their bright lights were shining directly into their eyes and [the driver] had no choice but to swerve. That’s the last they remembered as they were knocked out and when they came to, they were down in the ditch.”

Because of the trauma of the accident and their physical condition, the occupants of the vehicle have not spoken to the media. Brito-Gonzalez re-emphasized that the investigation is ongoing and asked anyone with information about the sixth vehicle or anything else pertinent to the case to email mib@riversidesheriff.org as soon as possible.

Bundy Canyon Road was closed at that point while crews from Southern California Edison and Spectrum made repairs to the power pole. A total of 55 customers lost power along Bundy Canyon Road from Tulip Lane heading north to Chico Hills Road. The outage extended southeast as far as Oak Circle Drive, said SCE spokesperson Diane Castro.