Authorities ID Santa Ana man killed in Thermal after pickup overturned

Authorities today identified a 61-year-old Santa Ana man who died in Thermal after the pickup truck he was driving overturned into a dirt shoulder.

The Riverside County coroner's office identified the man as Lippel Romulo.   

A passenger, a 39-year-old Walnut woman, sustained moderate injuries in the one-vehicle wreck and was taken to the Desert Regional Medical Center, Officer David Torres of the California Highway Patrol told City News Service.  

According to Torres, at around 12:45 p.m. Sunday, the man now identified as Romulo was driving a black Ford pickup north on Grapefruit Boulevard, approaching Avenue 58.

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"The driver traveled off to the eastern shoulder, the Ford overturned and came to rest on its roof on the dirt shoulder," Torres said. "When officers got there the driver had already succumbed to his injuries."

It was unknown why he drove off the road. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

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