DUI Suspected In Fatal Indio Crash

INDIO, CA — A 22-year-old man who died in a two-vehicle head-on collision in Indio possibly caused by an impaired driver was identified Monday as a Riverside resident.

Elvis Ponce Jr. was fatally injured shortly after 7:10 p.m. Sunday in the intersection of Avenue 44 and Arabia Street, according to the Indio Police Department.

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Ponce, a passenger in a Toyota Corolla, was pronounced dead at the scene after the car's 27-year-old driver, who was suspected of driving under the influence, crashed head-on with a Honda Accord, police said. The driver initially fled the scene on foot but was later found on Arabia Street. He was taken into custody without incident and taken to a hospital with unspecified injuries.

Officers found three people inside a Honda, identified only as a 31-year-old man, a 33-year-old woman and their 8-year-old son, who all sustained unspecified injuries, police said. The Honda driver was taken to a hospital, while the woman and the child were airlifted by helicopter from John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio to Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Riverside. Both had stable vital signs, according to police.

Officers also found an unresponsive man lying on the road next to the Toyota, and he was taken to a hospital in critical condition. It was unclear if he had been a passenger in the Toyota or possibly a pedestrian.

Anyone with additional information regarding the crash was asked to contact the department's Traffic Division at 760-391-4057.