Deadly SWR Crash Caused By Drunk Driver, CHP Says

SOUTHWEST RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA— A Lake Elsinore man was arrested over the weekend, accused of driving drunk and killing another local resident, the California Highway Patrol said Monday. Jose Mateo Montejo, 22, is now jailed in French Valley on $75,000 bail.

The head-on crash happened about 2:30 a.m. Sunday in the area of Grand Avenue and Vail Street, in a community known as Lakeland Village, just west of Lake Elsinore, according to CHP Officer Mike Lassig.

Montejo was behind the wheel of a 2006 Buick Rendezvous when he crashed into another man, also of Lake Elsinore, who was driving a 1972 Chevy Chevelle.

That victim has since been identified by coroner's officials as 67-year-old Barry Blunt.

"[Montejo] made an unsafe turning movement to the left causing [the Buick] to travel into the southbound traffic lane directly in front of [the Chevy]," Lassig said. "[Montejo's] unsafe turning movement caused the front of [the Buick] to collide with the front of [the Chevy]."

Riverside County Fire Department paramedics arrived within a few minutes and pronounced Blunt dead at the scene.

The suspect was taken to Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, where he was treated for minor to moderate injuries, then booked into jail.

Blunt's daughter posted to social media following the crash that the man — who often drove that same Chevelle around Lake Elsinore — left behind four children, one of them just 17.

A GoFundMe has been started to help pay for funeral expenses.

The CHP's Temecula Area office is investigating the crash.

— GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner / City News Service contributed to this report