My News LA reports a three-vehicle crash at an intersection in Menifee on Tuesday has claimed a woman’s life. The motorist who caused the crash has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Sgt. Matthew Bloch with the Menifee Police Department said in a statement that the fatal crash happened at approximately 3:00 p.m. at the intersection of Brea Road and Newport Road.
The suspect driver was heading westbound on Newport Road in a Ford SUV at an undetermined speed, blowing through a red light and into the intersection, broadsiding a BMW SUV that had the green light.
The force of the impact sent the BMW into the path of a Chrysler sedan whose driver was waiting to make a left turn into the eastbound lanes of Newport Road.
The California Highway Patrol responded to the scene where the 55-year-old female BMW driver was trapped inside her vehicle’s wreckage. The CHP officers began performing CPR on the woman who was still trapped inside her SUV. According to Sgt. Bloch, paramedics from the Riverside Fire Department, arrived a short time later and took over. The firefighters eventually extricated her from the wreckage and rushed her to an area trauma center with life-threatening injuries.
The woman remained in intensive care until her death on Thursday, September 29.
The suspect driver has been identified as 41-year-old Gabriel Derian of Menifee. Menifee was also seriously injured in the crash but is expected to survive. Menifee Police Department detectives have informed him that he was under arrest on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter, driving while under the influence of alcohol, and DUI causing great bodily injury.
Sgt. Bloch said that Derian would not be booked into jail until his release from the hospital.
