A 90-year-old Perris woman who was being taken to a hospital last weekend died after the ambulance crashed near Lake Mathews, a wreck that also injured two medics, authorities said.
The American Medical Response ambulance hit a tree on El Sobrante Road just east of Willow Drive south of Riverside around 6:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 5, the California Highway Patrol said. No other vehicles were involved, and the cause was under investigation, the CHP news release said.
A person who saw the crash site told KCAL/9 that the ambulance was split in two. An Instagram post showed the ambulance was obliterated.
The Riverside County Coroner’s Office said Grace Porretta died at 8:20 a.m.
The Coroner would not release a cause of death. Jasmine Wood, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department, said Porretta had critical injuries, but Wood said she didn’t know whether those were suffered in the crash or were the reason she was being hospitalized.
An AMR spokesperson, in an unsigned email statement, declined to provide medical details on Porretta.
The CHP said the medics had minor injuries.
“We can share that crew members involved were treated for their injuries and released from the hospital,” the AMR statement said. “We are conducting a thorough review of the incident, but our immediate focus is on the well-being of our team and supporting everyone affected. The safety and care of our staff, patients and the communities we serve remain our highest priority.”
