Last Updated on September 9, 2017 by CCAR Staff
Three people — including two Hemet residents — were killed on the 60 Freeway early Saturday, Sept. 9, after their disabled car was struck by another vehicle, California Highway Patrol officials said.
The incident happened about 3:30 a.m. on the eastbound lanes east of Country Village Road, according to a California Highway Patrol news release.
Update: 2 killed in 60 Freeway crash Jurupa Valley are Hemet residents
For unknown reasons, the driver of a 1995 Honda Accord lost control and crashed into the concrete center divider between the eastbound and westbound lanes of the highway, officials said.
The car became disabled and was blocking traffic lanes with its lights off. That’s when a 27-year-old man from Redlands driving a 2016 Ford Fusion in the eastbound lanes crashed into the Honda, according to officials.
In that crash, one of the Honda’s occupants was struck and sent over the center divider into westbound traffic lanes, where that person was then hit by vehicles in those lanes, the release says.
The two other occupants of the Honda were also struck. All three people were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the release.
The driver of the Ford Fusion suffered minor injuries to his upper arms, officials say.
It’s unclear whether the three occupants of the Honda were inside or outside the car when they were struck. California Highway Patrol Officer Eddie Perez said the crash was still in the early stages of the investigation.
Saturday night, the Riverside County Coroner’s Bureau identified two of the three victims as Jose Perez, 27, and Omar Arambula, 24, both of Hemet.
Following the incident, both the eastbound and westbound sides of the 60 were closed and a SigAlert was issued.
People trying to find ways around the crash almost caused additional accidents and further backed up traffic.
A motorist told dispatchers some cars were trying to exit the freeway by getting off on the Pyrite Street on-ramp, almost causing a head-on collision there, according to a CHP incident log.
Another motorist told the CHP that people were driving on the freeway shoulders to get around traffic, according to the log.
The CHP log also notes that drivers were trying to move from the westbound lanes to the eastbound lanes through a hole in the center divider, causing traffic to back up on the eastbound side, according to the log.
By about 10:20 a.m., all lanes were open and the SigAlert had been canceled, according to a California Highway Patrol dispatcher.
Staff writer Beau Yarbrough contributed to this story.
