Last Updated on May 18, 2020 by CCAR Staff
A motorist died Sunday night in a crash involving four vehicles and a semi-truck on Gilman Springs Road in a county area east of Moreno Valley, authorities said.
A witness who said he tried to help the pickup truck driver said the collision between the pickup, heading westbound on the roadway, and a semi-tractor heading east caused a huge fireball, and the force of the impact knocked the engine out of the pickup.
One of the cars involved in the accident hit the engine, the witness, Peter Kling of Loma Linda, said.
The California Highway Patrol log showed units were dispatched at 10:47 p.m. to a collision at Gilman Springs Road at Eden Hot Springs Road.
Kling said he was driving home when he saw the pickup swerve for unknown reasons and hit the semi-tractor.
“I only had time to say, ‘Oh, no!’ It was a huge fireball. I went to the right (toward the shoulder of the road). All I saw was a huge ball of flame and the pickup truck go off the ground.” It landed on the shoulder, in front of him, Kling said.
He braked enough so just the front of his car hit the pickup. He said he threw his car into reverse because it appeared the pickup also was ablaze. He grabbed a fire extinguisher that he said he carries under his seat, but the fire on the pickup was already out.
He said he handed the extinguisher to someone else to tend to the semi-tractor fire, and turned his attention to the pickup driver.
“I could do nothing,” Kling said. “I said a prayer with him. That was all I could do.” Kling said it was the pickup driver who died.
Authorities confirmed the one fatality at 11:33 p.m. and said the fire had been extinguished.
Cal Fire/Riverside said five patients were assessed by paramedics at the scene and declined further medical treatment.
Further details were not immediately available.
