A three-vehicle collision at the intersection of Iris Avenue and Lasselle Street in Moreno Valley left four people injured Friday evening, two of them with major injuries, according to fire officials. Firefighters responded to the crash at 5:56 p.m. and found four patients needing medical attention, with two suffering moderate injuries and two suffering major injuries.
All four patients were transported by ground ambulance to a local hospital, according to a post from CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department
. The department's update did not specify which hospital received the patients, but Riverside University Health System Medical Center operates as Riverside County's only ACS-COT verified Level I trauma center, according to the
Yaghmai Law Firm
. Once patients were cleared from the scene, the incident was turned over to local law enforcement for further investigation, per the same fire department post.
A Notoriously Busy Intersection
Iris Avenue and Lasselle Street sits at a high-traffic commercial and educational crossroads, bordered by the Lakeshore Terrace and Lakeside Plaza shopping centers. Moreno Valley College enrolls roughly 12,000 students, according to city records. The Riverside County Sheriff's Department's Moreno Valley Station provides contract municipal police services in the city, per the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. The provided information does not specify which agency handles crashes on freeways or city streets.
Official fault determinations, vehicle speeds, and the exact mechanics of Friday's crash remain pending further investigation. It is not yet known what led to the three vehicles colliding at the intersection.
A History of Deadly Crashes Nearby
This is not the first serious collision at or near this stretch of road. In June 2023, a 15-year-old bicyclist named Karrar Mahdi died at Riverside University Health System Medical Center weeks after being struck by a car while turning at this same intersection, according to the Pacific Attorney Group. That crash was investigated by the Moreno Valley Traffic Collision Reconstruction Team.
Just north of Iris Avenue, deputies from the Moreno Valley Station also investigated a double-fatal collision on Lasselle Street at Calle Agua in June 2023 that killed two drivers and shut down northbound lanes for hours, according to a Riverside Sheriff news relay posted to Facebook. In January, the roadway was closed in both directions between Oliver Street and Via Del Lago.
Traffic Safety Planning
The city maintains a Local Road Safety Plan, according to the City of Moreno Valley.
Traffic-safety comparisons for 2022 are not detailed here.
Friday's crash also arrives amid a string of serious traffic incidents connected to Moreno Valley in recent weeks. A 24-year-old Moreno Valley woman was ejected and killed in a Perris freeway crash on nearby I-215 earlier this month, and California Highway Patrol records for the broader area in 2026 are not detailed here.
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