A three-vehicle wreck at a Menifee intersection that almost killed a motorist was triggered by the driver of an SUV who plowed through a stoplight while possibly drunk at the wheel, authorities said Wednesday.
The crash happened just after 3 p.m. Tuesday at Berea and Newport roads, according to the Menifee Police Department.
Sgt. Matthew Bloch said a 41-year-old Menifee man driving a Ford SUV was going westbound on Newport at an undetermined speed when he ignored a red traffic signal and drove straight into the intersection.
A 41-year-old woman driving a BMW SUV was headed south on Berea when she entered the intersection on a green light and was broadsided on the driver’s side by the Ford. This caused her vehicle to impact a Chrysler sedan, whose driver was waiting to make an eastbound turn onto Newport from Berea, Bloch said.
None of the parties was identified.
According to the sergeant, patrol officers were the first to reach the scene and found the victim in the BMW trapped inside the wreckage, unconscious and barely clinging to life.
Officers initiated CPR until Riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the location and took over, Bloch said. Firefighters freed the woman from the smashed BMW minutes later, and she was taken to a regional trauma center in critical condition. She remained in intensive care Wednesday.
The 55-year-old Menifee woman at the wheel of the Chrysler suffered minor injuries, for which she was treated and released from a hospital, according to the police spokesman.
The Ford driver suffered major injuries and gave indications of being intoxicated, Bloch said. He said the man was hospitalized in serious condition.
The intersection was shut down for roughly three hours while an investigation was conducted and the wreckage was cleared.