MURRIETA (CNS) – A suspected drunken driver caused a three-vehicle
collision on Interstate 215 in Murrieta before sunrise today, injuring himself
and five others, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Isaiah F. Orona, 26, of Menifee allegedly caused the wreck about 3:15
a.m. on northbound Interstate 215, near Linnel Lane, CHP Officer Mike Lassig
said.
Orona was driving a 2020 Dodge Charger traveling at an unknown speed
when he “made an unsafe turning movement” and slammed into the concrete
center divider, Lassig said.
Orona lost control and allowed the Charger to veer back into lanes,
colliding with a 2004 Hyundai being driven by a 55-year-old Menifee man,
according to Lassig.
After that collision, the Dodge veered in the opposite direction and
collided with a 2017 Kia Sportage occupied by a family of four, Lassig said.
“At the conclusion of these events, all vehicles came to rest (on the
freeway),” Lassig said.
CHP officers and Murrieta Fire & Rescue personnel reached the location
within a few minutes and found a 6-year-old boy in the Kia with major
injuries, along with his father, identified only as a 27-year-old Las Vegas
man.
Orona was also seriously injured, but the other parties escaped with
minor injuries, Lassig said.
The driver of the Hyundai declined to be taken to a hospital, while
everyone else was transported to Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar for
treatment, Lassig said.
All are expected to recover.
Lassig alleged that observations at the scene of the crash and
additional evidence confirmed Orona was intoxicated, and he was formally taken
into custody on suspicion of DUI at the hospital.
Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.
