A passenger killed in an off-roading crash when the ATV he was riding in plunged nearly 300 feet off the side of a trail in the San Jacinto Mountains east of Hemet was identified as a 41-year-old Moreno Valley man.
The crash that killed Luis Alberto Lopez-Perez was reported at 3:55 p.m. Sunday on the San Jacinto Ridge Truck Trail north of state Route 74, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Matt Napier.
Lopez-Perez was a passenger in a Polaris Rzr when, for reasons still under investigation, the ATV veered off the trail and over a steep embankment, ejecting both of the occupants, the CHP said.
A helicopter was summoned to assist in the rescue effort, whose crew reported seeing a man, later identified as Edgar Benjamin Lopez-Mauricio, 41, of Hawthorne, hiking from the crash site. Lopez-Mauricio, who was driving, suffered major injuries due to the crash, but survived.
Emergency crews later located Lopez-Perez down the embankment and pronounced him dead at the scene.
Drugs and/or alcohol were ruled out as contributing factors in the crash, according to the CHP.