Collision With Fire Engine Leaves Motorcyclist Hospitalized

SPRING VALLEY, CA — A 59-year-old motorcyclist was recovering Friday from injuries he suffered in a collision with a fire engine in La Presa.

The Spring Valley resident was headed east on Paradise Valley Road shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday when the crew of the San Miguel Fire & Rescue vehicle – who were responding to a medical emergency with their lights and siren activated – made a right-hand turn in his path into an apartment complex near Elkelton Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The motorcyclist's 2012 Harley-Davidson struck the side of the fire engine and slid underneath it, leaving the rider pinned, SMFR Deputy Chief James Marugg said.

It took firefighters about 20 minutes to free the man, whose name was not released, after which medics took him to Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego for treatment of moderately serious leg trauma.

The particulars of the crash remained under investigation, though intoxication was not believed to have been a factor, CHP public affairs Officer Travis Garrow said.

No one aboard the fire engine was injured, but the emergency-services vehicle sustained enough damage to put it out of service pending repairs, Marugg said.

– City News Service