Ambulance transporting hit and run victim strikes pedestrian in Cathedral City
Police were investigating two hit and run collisions in Cathedral City Wednesday evening that left both a bicyclist and a pedestrian hospitalized.
The CHP was also investigating a related third collision involving a Cathedral City Ambulance crew.
The incidents happened within a short period of time along Ramon Road.
Paramedics were first called to Ramon Road and Sky Blue Water Trail at 9:09 p.m.
Cathedral City Police said a bicyclist, Bernardo Montes Rivera, 21, of Cathedral City rode his bike northbound on Sky Blue Water Trail and entered the intersection with Ramon Road without yielding to traffic.
A police statement said witnesses saw a motorist either in a dark-colored truck or SUV hit Rivera, then make a u-turn.
The driver said he would return, but did not.
Rivera was rushed to Desert Regional Medical Center with severe injuries.
On Thursday morning News Channel 3 / CBS Local 2 News learned a Cathedral City Fire Department ambulance also struck a second person in the road while rushing Rivera to the hospital.
That pedestrian, Teodoro Torres, 51, of Cathedral City had already been struck by a black SUV in the in the #1 westbound lane of Ramon Road as he crossed the roadway from south to north.
Police said the SUV’s driver slowed after hitting Torres then sped off westbound on Ramon Road.
A police statement said medics notified the city’s police dispatch of the downed pedestrian, just two blocks west of the first collision scene, then continued to Desert Regional Medical Center with Rivera.
Officer Mike Radford from the California Highway Patrol said Thursday morning the agency had been asked by Cathedral City to investigate the collision involving the fire department ambulance and Torres.
Torres suffered severe injuries and was hospitalized at Desert Regional Medical Center.
Cathedral City Police and the California Highway Patrol ask anyone with information on the collisions to contact the Cathedral City Police Department.
