A vehicle went off Rancho California Road in Temecula late Friday night and plunged as far as 200 feet down an embankment, according to California Highway Patrol's dispatch log, which classified the crash as a fatality. The incident was first logged near 28399 Rancho California Road at 10:49 p.m. on November 13, with responders initially describing it as a traffic collision involving casualties and unknown injuries.
The dispatch feed, tracked by chpfatal.com, shows the incident evolving quickly once crews arrived. At 11 p.m., a log entry read, “VEHICLE 100 FLAT TIRE DOWN THE EMBANKMENT,” putting the vehicle an estimated 100 feet down the slope. As reported by Valley News, that estimate was later revised upward.
Classification Changed Within Minutes
At 11:19 p.m., a responder requested the coroner and an estimated time of arrival, per the chpfatal.com log. Three minutes later, at 11:22 p.m., CHP updated the incident type, with the notification reading, “Problem changed from Traffic Collision Unknown Injuries to Fatality.” The same feed shows that by 11:27 p.m., the vehicle's distance down the embankment had been revised to a range of 150 to 200 feet.
Recovering the vehicle required specialized equipment given the steep terrain. At 11:54 p.m., the log recorded a request for heavy-duty towing with a rotator, a type of tow truck built for pulling vehicles out of hard-to-reach spots like embankments and ravines. The roadway was not reported clear until 3:27 a.m. on November 14, according to the dispatch log.
No Identities Released
The chpfatal.com log does not identify who was in the vehicle or what caused it to leave the roadway, and no additional details about the circumstances have been released. The stretch of Rancho California Road has seen fatal embankment crashes before; a separate incident in June 2016 near Buck Road and Otis Street, in the same general area, ended with a vehicle leaving the roadway, traveling down an embankment, striking trees and overturning, according to a report from Patch. Fire officials told Patch the driver in that earlier crash, identified only as a 32-year-old Ramona resident pending family notification, died at the scene. The earlier crash also occurred along the Rancho California Road corridor.
