Two sheriff’s deputies were recovering in the hospital Sunday with major injuries, but two other people were killed after an Amazon delivery truck slammed into a sheriff’s patrol vehicle that had responded to another accident in Jurupa Valley.
Four people – the drivers of the two vehicles in the original accident and the two deputies – were standing beside their vehicles when the Amazon truck crashed into the deputies’ patrol vehicle and that patrol vehicle was then pushed into the four victims. Both drivers of the two vehicles in the original accident were killed and the two deputies sustained major injuries and were rushed to a hospital.
The first crash took place at 5:54 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Van Buren Boulevard at 56th Street in the incorporated city of Jurupa Valley just west of the city of Riverside, according to the California Highway Patrol. That crash investigation was being handled by two members of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, said CHP Riverside spokesman Juan Quintero.
The Riverside sheriff’s deputies were a community service officer and a volunteer deputy, Quintero said. The CSO used the patrol vehicle to block the No. 1 southbound lane of Van Buren. That patrol vehicle was parked behind the two vehicles involved in the crash.
Around 6:34 p.m., the Amazon Prime delivery truck was headed south on Van Buren when it collided with the unoccupied patrol vehicle, Quintero continued. The force of the collision drove the patrol vehicle into four nearby pedestrians. Two of the people hit were the Riverside sheriff’s personnel, who were both taken to a local hospital with major injuries. The CHP said the injured deputies are expected to survive.
The other two people hit were the drivers of the vehicles involved in the first accident, Quintero said. Both of those people suffered major injuries and died at the scene. Their names were withheld pending family notifications.
The driver of the Amazon truck was transported to a hospital complaining of pain. Neither alcohol nor drugs were believed to be factors in the crash, Quintero said.
Anyone with information on this crash was asked to call CHP Officer C. Mogi at 951-637-8000.