A young man was killed when his all-terrain vehicle flipped and rolled several times while he was joyriding with friends on an abandoned golf course east of Moreno Valley, the California Highway Patrol said Monday.
The crash happened shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday on a trail in the former Quail Ranch Golf Club at 15960 Gilman Springs Road, near Mystic Lake, in rugged terrain known as the Badlands.
CHP Officer Ricardo Palomera said the victim, whose identity was not immediately released, was riding his four-seat quad “at approximately 40 to 50 mph” with three passengers when the vehicle “hit a dirt berm.”
“It was launched into the air and came down on its front end, then overturned several times,” Palomera said. “The unrestrained driver was partially pinned under the vehicle as it came to rest on the driver’s side.”
One of the passengers managed to pull the driver out and initiate CPR while one of the other parties called 911, according to the CHP.
Riverside County Fire Department crews reached the location a short time later and took over resuscitative measures, but the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Palomera said that, like the victim, two of the passengers, whose identities were not disclosed, were not wearing safety restraints. They both complained of pain but declined to be transported to a hospital for further evaluation. The third passenger, identified only as a girl, was wearing a restraint but suffered minor injuries. She was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley for treatment and has since been released.
Palomera said an autopsy was pending on the driver Monday. It’s unknown whether he was intoxicated while driving.