Morongo Valley firefighters responded to their third motorcycle crash yesterday on the Morongo Grade in about two and a half weeks. About 9:43 a.m. Monday, a man in his 20s was riding a Kawasaki Ninja west on Highway 62 when he lost control near the bottom of the grade and ended up in the dirt on the right shoulder. He escaped serious injury, suffering mostly road rash, but was taken to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs as a precaution. Just over two weeks ago, Blake Creel, 20, and Jared Patrick, 20, both Marines stationed in Twentynine Palms, crashed their motorcycles on the Morongo Grade. Creel died at Desert Hospital; Patrick was injured.
