Three people were injured, including a teenage girl, when a drunken driving suspect allegedly drove through a red light, smashed his car into another vehicle and then ran, sheriff’s deputies said Sunday.
The suspected drunk abandoned a 14-year-old girl and another person in his wrecked vehicle following the crash, at 12:06 a.m. Saturday at Limonite Avenue and Camino Real.
Eight people total were in the crash.
Two people, including a 14-year-old girl, were trapped for about 50 minutes in the suspect’s vehicle as firefighters worked to free them, according to April Newman with the Riverside County Fire Department. They were hospitalized with major injuries.
Another person, from the second vehicle, was hospitalized with minor injuries, Newman said.
The remaining five were evaluated at the scene by paramedics and declined further treatment.
Witnesses told deputies they saw the suspect’s vehicle run a red light at the intersection and crash into the second vehicle, according to Sgt. Christian Dekker.
The suspect then ran into the night, Dekker said.
Deputies later found the suspect at a “nearby location” and arrested him, according to Dekker.
Donald Derose, 22, of Riverside was booked into Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of drunken driving causing injury, hit-and-run with injury, child endangerment and violation of probation.
–City News Service