Sheriff’s deputies responded to three separate traffic collisions Friday night in Yucca Valley. At 7:55 p.m., deputies responded to a vehicle versus bicyclist at Highway 62 and Cholla Avenue. An unidentified man rode his bicycle into the highway and was struck by an oncoming vehicle. The bicyclist was injured and transported to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs with non-life threatening injuries. The Sheriff’s Department has not identified the bicyclist.
Then a few minutes later, deputies responded to the area of Grand Ave and El Dorado Drive for a report of a four-vehicle traffic collision. Deputies say 28 year-old Justin Smith of Yucca Valley was northbound on Grand Avenue at 7:59 p.m. when he swerved to miss a coyote in the roadway. Smith collided with an unoccupied parked vehicle, pushing that vehicle into another unoccupied parked vehicle, which then veered to the other side of the roadway and crashed head-on into another unoccupied parked vehicle. Smith was not injured during the incident. A records check revealed Smith had $1.5 million in outstanding warrants for possession and transportation of controlled substances. Justin Smith was arrested and booked into the Morongo Basin Jail.
And then at 2:00 a.m. Saturday, deputies responded to a single-vehicle collision at Highway 62 and Sage Avenue. Deputies found an unoccupied 2015 Honda Civic at the scene of the crash, which had been disabled and abandoned in the roadway with airbags deployed. The driver was identified as active-duty Marine Sergeant Franklin Walker, 23, of the 4th Tank Battalion. Walker was detained at the front gate of the Twentynine Palms Marine Base at about 2:54 a.m. Walker, who was not injured, was arrested for misdemeanor hit-and-run and driving under the influence of alcohol, and was booked into the Morongo Basin Jail.
And finally, we have limited information about a car crash early this morning in Yucca Valley. About 4 a.m., rescue personnel were called to a single-vehicle crash in the 55400 block of 29 Palms Highway where a small sedan crashed into a cement light pole. The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle declined medical aid, while the light pole was broken in pieces on the ground. The Sheriff’s Department is investigating.
