By Sandra Baltazar Martínez
The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Read Deputy Villegas’s Officer Down
Authorities have opened the roadway following a head-on traffic collision early this morning in which a Riverside County Sheriff Deputy and motorist were killed.
Deputy Manuel Villegas, 33, and Coachella resident Jorge Martinez, 64, were pronounced dead at the scene, said Deputy Juan Zamora, spokesman for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Details about the crash are under investigation, Zamora said.
Villegas was a patrol officer who joined the department 17 months ago, Zamora said. The Indio resident leaves behind a wife and children, Zamora said.
According to Officer Tami Low, spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol, the men were involved in a head-on crash. Villegas and another officer were driving separate patrol cars, heading north on Pierce on a follow-up investigation of a domestic violence call. The deputies were not driving with their lights and sirens on and were traveling between 55 and 60 mph, she said.
The first officer swerved when Martinez’s red Nissan Maxima crossed into the southbound lane, but Villegas could not avoid a collision, Low said. Martinez was traveling between 55 and 60 mph, Low said.
The traffic collision happened around 12:55 a.m. in the 62000 block of Pierce Street in Thermal, east of Palm Springs. Both drivers were wearing their safety belts, Low said.
According to the California Highway Patrol web site, Pierce Street was closed off for the investigation and was reopened at 11 a.m.
Copyright 2007 The Press-Enterprise