A rollover crash on Interstate 10 in Mecca Thursday left a motorist injured and briefly blocked a portion of the freeway while first responders worked to extricate the man from the wreckage.
The crash was reported about 2 p.m. on eastbound I-10, just east of Frontage Road, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Witnesses told the agency that the driver of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck was driving recklessly moments before he lost control and plowed through a guardrail, overturning just a few feet above a steep embankment.
Good Samaritans stopped and attempted to assist the victim, whose identity was not released, but they were unable to pull him free of the wreckage, according to reports from the scene.
Riverside County Fire Department crews arrived minutes later and extricated the man from the pickup. CHP officers shut down freeway lanes to give firefighters space to work and set up a temporary landing zone for a Mercy Air helicopter crew.
All east- and westbound lanes were open and unobstructed in well under an hour.
The victim was retrieved by the air ambulance and taken to a Coachella Valley hospital for treatment of moderate injuries, according to the fire department.
CHP officers were investigating the cause of the crash.