OC Motorcyclist Airlifted From Ortega Highway Crash: CHP

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department and California Highway Patrol officers raced to the scene of a motorcycle crash Monday afternoon off westbound Highway 74 at Tenaja Truck Trail near the Lake Elsinore side of the Ortega Highway.

The motorcyclist suffered moderate injuries requiring air transport to a nearby trauma hospital, according to a Cal Fire spokesperson, Maggie Cline De La Rosa.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m., firefighters arrived to find a single motorcycle crash just east of the Candy Store on Ortega Highway. There, a 25-year-old rider from Huntington Beach had collided with a dirt embankment, California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Lassig told Patch.

"For reasons under investigation, the rider allowed his Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle to travel off the paved roadway and into a dirt embankment, where he ultimately collided," Lassig said.

Dispatch reported that the motorcyclist was sitting up on the right shoulder, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans as they waited for the rescue helicopter to arrive, and that the road was blocked.

No other vehicles were believed to be involved in the crash.

The helicopter landed at the Ortega Highway Candy Store, where the patient was loaded into the aircraft and flown to the nearest trauma center.

"CHP would like to remind the motoring public always to be mindful of speed, and drive using the high visual horizon," Lassig said. California Highway Patrol remained in charge of the crash scene.