Tragic 91 weekend highway crashes linked to alcohol: CHP

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA – A 21-year-old man is dead and two people were injured – one seriously – after a weekend crash on the 91 Freeway in Riverside that was linked to driving under the influence, according to information provided by the California Highway Patrol and the coroner’s office.

According to the coroner’s office, Alfredo Verganza-Lucas of Riverside was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which was reported early Sunday morning on the east side of the highway, approximately 1,000 feet west of the Adams Street exit.

According to a preliminary report from the CHP, the agency responded to reports of an accident at the scene at approximately 3:16 a.m.

On scene, the CHP determined that a number of accidents had indeed occurred there. The first was between a Jeep Patriot and a Kia Sportage. The Jeep stalled in the lane and the vehicle’s occupants exited the wreckage, “and were pedestrians in the lane, according to the CHP.”

Next, an eastbound commercial tractor-trailer “swerved to avoid the Jeep and lost control,” law enforcement said.

The vehicle drove over a concrete wall on the right shoulder of the highway and overturned, the CHP reported.

Next, an eastbound Toyota Camry also tried to avoid the stopped Jeep, but crashed into it and Verganza-Lucas, who was standing in the lanes and had been a passenger in the Jeep.

The impact threw the Jeep forward into another passenger who was standing in front of the Jeep. The unidentified passenger was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, CHP reported.

Despite the large truck driver, the Toyota driver was uninjured.persistent pain complaints,” according to the CHP. Her identity has not been revealed.