Last Updated on May 24, 2019 by CCAR Staff
A 33-year-old Rialto man died Thursday morning when the 2010 silver Nissan Sentra he was driving on the eastbound 10 Freeway between Banning and Cabazon spun out of control, went over an embankment and struck a tree, the California Highway Patrol said.
The driver, identified by the Riverside County coroner as Luis Ochoa Ruiz, was driving at about 70 mph while a “significant” amount of rain was falling in the area, and other traffic was moving at about 55 mph, the CHP said.
Ochoa’s car was west of the Desert Hills Inspection Area along the freeway just before 7 a.m. when he moved from the No. 1, or fast lane, to the No. 2 lane to pass slower traffic and lost control of the Sentra, CHP Officer Darren Meyer wrote in a news release.
It spun out of control, left the roadway and went over the embankment on the south side of the freeway before striking the tree, the CHP. Ochoa was wearing a seatbelt, but he was fatally Meyer wrote.
Alcohol and drugs have not been ruled out as a factor in the crash, Meyer said.
