Gruesome Crash On 60 Freeway Claims 3 Lives; 2 ID'd As Hemet Residents

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A grisly crash on a busy Riverside County freeway over the weekend claimed the lives of three people, two of whom have now been publicly identified by the coroner's office. Hemet residents Jose Perez, 27, and Omar Arambula, 24, were among the three people in a Honda Accord that lost control, hit the center divider and was then slammed into by a Ford Fusion early Saturday.

According to California Highway Patrol Officer Dan Olivas, the incident happened around 3:30 a.m. Saturday on the eastbound SR-60, east of Country Village Road, in the Jurupa Valley area.

"For an unknown reason the driver of the Honda lost control of the vehicle causing the front of the Honda to collide into the concrete center median divider," Olivas said in a news release. "The Honda became disabled blocking traffic lanes with none of it lights activated."

That's when the Honda Accord was hit by the approaching Ford Fusion, the officer said. The impact caused one of the Honda's passengers to be thrown over the center divider into westbound lanes, where he was stuck by multiple vehicles, according to the California Highway Patrol.

"As of result of the traffic collision, one of the parties from the Honda was struck and thrown over the concrete center median divider, into the westbound lanes of SR-60," Olivas said. "This party was subsequently stuck an unknown number of times by passing motorists traveling on the SR-60 westbound lanes."

Two other people that were in the Honda were also killed by the crashes, the officer said.

The driver of the Ford, a 27-year-old Redlands man, was hospitalized with minor injuries to his arms.

It was unclear if the Honda's other passengers were inside or outside the vehicle when they were struck by the Ford.

CHP officials are still investigating the deadly wreck and asked that anyone who has information regarding this collision to contact the California Highway Patrol, Riverside Area office Accident Investigation unit at (951) 637-8000.

— City News Service contributed to this report / Patch file photo by Renee Schiavone