Deputies talk roadway safety after high-speed chase

Wednesday, workers were cleaning up the scene after a high-speed car chase throughout multiple cities in the Coachella Valley on Tuesday.

After living in the La Quinta neighborhood for two and a half years, Roderick DeSilva said this type of event doesn’t happen in the area.

“Normally this neighborhood is pretty quiet,” DeSilva said. “We don’t get a lot of high-speed chases or anything like that.”

But now Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputies said they hope to remind people of what to do during an emergency like a high-speed pursuit, especially if they’re behind the wheel.

“A lot of times people are distracted in their vehicle, whether it’d be the radio turned up to loud or they’re on the phone,” Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Armando Munoz said. “We just ask them to pay attention to their surroundings. And if they do hear a siren or see their lights, pull over to the right and allow that emergency vehicle to make its way through.”

While residents like DeSilva say they hope to not see something like this happen again.

“This might be an isolated incident, and hopefully it is, but people are pretty cautious around here,” DeSilva said.

Munoz said the other two deputies involved in a crash near Cook Street and Fred Waring Drive were taken to a local hospital as a precaution.