A 43-year-old Temecula resident was killed early Monday when his car slammed into a utility pole and overturned just north of Murrieta.
The crash happened about 12:45 a.m. on Interstate 215, just north of Clinton Keith Road, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Officer Mike Lassig said the victim, whose name was withheld pending family notification, was driving his 2012 Volkswagen Jetta southbound on I-215 in the slow lane when he abruptly turned into the adjacent traffic lane and hit a Ford F-150 pickup.
“The force of the impact caused the Jetta to veer back to the right, onto the shoulder, where the right side of the vehicle struck a light pole,” Lassig said. “The vehicle rolled over, (landing) on its wheels within the dirt shoulder area.”
The light standard toppled onto the freeway, where a Hyundai Kona ran into it, according to the CHP spokesman.
He said Riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the location within a few minutes and rendered emergency treatment to the Jetta driver, who was taken to Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, where he died less than an hour later.
The occupants of the other two vehicles escaped injury, Lassig said.
The freeway was not shut down.
An autopsy was pending to determine whether alcohol or drugs were factors in the crash, Lassig said.