Last Updated on May 20, 2020 by CCAR Staff
Officials Tuesday identified a man who died in a crash on Sunday evening between San Jacinto and Moreno Valley.
The California Highway Patrol said Nicholas Anthony Gonzalez, 28, of San Jacinto, was driving a Chevrolet Silverado on Gilman Springs Road, just west of Bridge Street at around 10:45 p.m. just before the crash happened.
“Mr. Gonzalez made an unsafe turn onto the wrong side of the road, to the left of the solid yellow lines and the (delineators) and collided head-on with a semi-truck and trailer,” the CHP collision report said.
“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,” Peter Kling, of Loma Linda, a witness to the crash, said earlier. Kling said the pickup had been heading westbound.
The Chevrolet continued out of control and crashed into another vehicle, officials said. Other vehicles were also involved in the crash as they swerved to avoid flying debris.
Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
Both lanes of Gilman Springs Road were closed while the CHP investigated the crash.
