Driver Distracted by Cell Phone Crashes into His Own Home

A 21-year-old driver distracted by talking on a cell phone lost control of the vehicle while pulling into his own driveway Monday afternoon,...

A 21-year-old driver distracted by talking on a cell phone lost control of the vehicle while pulling into his own driveway Monday afternoon, crashing into his home and severing the gas line on a neighbor's home, police said.

At 12:50 p.m., officers from the Menifee Police Department responded to the 27900 block of Red Dawn Drive in response to the report of a vehicle that had collided with and severed a natural gas main line. Fire personnel immediately requested evacuations of the residents and police closed the block to vehicular traffic. Fire personnel immediately recognized the broken line was actually a feed line into a home, however, and shut off the gas flow to the line. All residents were allowed to remain in their homes and the road was opened after only 10 minutes of closure.

According to police, the driver was arriving at home and talking on a cell phone when he entered his driveway too fast and lost control of his vehicle. The name of the driver was not released.

There was no structural damage to either home other than the broken gas line. Neither alcohol nor drugs were a factor in this collision. There were no injuries as a result of this collision, police said.

The Menifee Police Department reminds the public that not only is it illegal to use a cell phone without a hands-free device, it may contribute to a collision. The investigation is continuing and anyone who may have witnessed the collision or may have further information is asked to call the Menifee Police Department Traffic Division at 951-210-1000.

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Post a Comment

  1. MAYBE MENIFEE POLICE NEED A MEETING TO GO OVER THE CELL PHONE LAW, BECAUSE I SEE THEM ALL OVER TOWN ON THEIR PHONES & I KNOW THEY AREN'T EMERGENCY CALLS...

    ReplyDelete
  2. This could have been avoided.

    ReplyDelete
  3. To Anonymous, police/fire/ambulance are exempt from the law, which I think is wrong too, but still they are allowed, although most the calls are not emergency business I am sure as well. As for the young driver that crashed he was just doing what all others do not paying attention while driving, whether it be on the phone, eating, putting on makeup, etc....and the Menifee Police/Riverside Sheriff for the most part do not do anything about the traffic laws, trust me I see hundreds run the stop signs and speed on my street daily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just a point of clarification, this is a common misconception.

      I don't mean to be disrespectful, but public safety officials are NOT exempt from the law - they just have different laws to comply with at times.

      The original post(er) makes a good point. Cell phones are NOT a DOJ approved method of messaging and is not suitable to be used for law enforcement purposes as a regular form of communication. This is why they have all that gear in their car and on their body.

      If by some chance the "anon" poster at 9:10AM above is a police officer, i'd suggest discussing this with your CO and/or the communications supervisor to better understand why you're not exempt from that specific vehicle code.

      Having said that - as a general rule, many officers will not cite other law enforcement staff as part of an un-official policy recognized by many(most).

      Delete
  4. maybe the neighbors cat was in the way which caused the distraction

    ReplyDelete

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