24-year-old man killed, 5 taken to hospital after I-10 crash

A 24-year-old man from Cathedral City was killed after crashing a 2001 BMW X5 on westbound Interstate 10 early Friday morning, according to Officer Mike Radford with the California Highway Patrol.

The Riverside County Coroner’s Office hasn’t identified the man yet. Five passengers were also in the car and were taken to the hospital with various injuries. Two were said to be in critical condition and the other three only sustained minor injuries.

The collision happened just west of Highway 62 near Palm Springs at 2:20 a.m. Radford said the BMW struck a utility trailer that was being hauled by a freightliner tractor. Both vehicles were in the right-hand lane.

CHP determined the man driving the BMW was traveling at an unsafe speed for the conditions and that caused him to hit the rear of the utility trailer. The driver of the BMW was pronounced dead at the scene. The man driving the freightliner was in pain but wasn’t taken to the hospital.

Three of the five additional passengers in the BMW were taken to Desert Regional Medical Center with major to minor injuries and the two others were taken to Eisenhower Medical Center with minor injuries.

The passengers were listed as a 32-year-old man from Hemet, a 25-year-old female from San Jacinto, a 22-year-old woman from Hemet and another female whose age and residence is unknown at the time.

Westbound I-10 remained open during the investigation.