The Palm Springs Police Department is investigating after a child and a teenager sustained major injuries in two separate accidents that occurred on North Indian Canyon at the wash early Tuesday morning.
Both vehicles struck a large sand berm on a roadway that was closed due to wind-swept sands obscuring visibility, according to a Facebook report by PSPD. Both drivers are facing charges for driving under the influence, police said.
Just before 2 a.m., a PSPD officer observed a traffic collision at the scene after two vehicles sped past him and slammed through the south closure barricades before proceeding on through the wash. One of the vehicles impacted a berm so immense it covered the entire roadway then rolled over and became engulfed in fire. This resulted in major injuries, police said, for the driver, 18-year-old Michael Hernandez, who remained hospitalized Tuesday afternoon, the Facebook report said.
"While at the scene, another vehicle was found rolled over, but no occupants were found. It was unknown if this vehicle was abandoned and involved with the current traffic collision, until PSPD became aware that the driver of that vehicle did not report an earlier collision," according to the report.
Officers determined that a 31-year-old man was driving his child home from a party in Cathedral City and had consumed alcohol when he too bypassed the barricades and hit the berm. Police said he managed to free himself and his son from the vehicle and walk to a nearby gas station, where they met a relative and sought care at a local hospital. His son sustained a major injury to his face and an unknown internal injury to his body, for which he later was airlifted to another hospital.
Besides DUI, the father, Pablo Garcia Montealegre, was charged with child endangerment due to circumstances related to the accident, police said.
PSPD is asking any accident witnesses to call the department's Traffic Division at 760-323-8125 or share anonymous tips with Crime Stoppers at 760-347-7867.