CHP concludes investigation into fatal traffic collision involving Twentynine Palms driver and Sheriff’s deputy

New details have been released about a traffic collision involving a Sheriff’s deputy on Twentynine Palms Highway that left one person dead.

On Friday (October 9) at around 5:28 p.m., the California Highway Patrol (CHP) says that a collision occurred involving a white Ford F-250 pick-up truck and a marked Sheriff’s Chevrolet Tahoe patrol vehicle occurred at the intersection of Twentynine Palms Highway and White Feather Road in Joshua Tree.

The CHP says that the driver of the Ford, James Whitmore, a 76 year-old resident of Twentynine Palms, drove eastbound through the intersection against a red light. They say he collided with the front of the Sheriff’s vehicle, and the Ford continued into a raised curb where it overturned and came to rest in the courthouse parking lot.

Whitmore was pronounced dead at the scene. The Sheriff’s Department said that the deputy in the vehicle was uninjured.

The CHP oversaw the investigation.