Cathedral City Man ID'd In Fatal Two-Car Crash, 5 Others Hospitalized

CATHEDRAL CITY, CA — A 19-year-old man has been killed and five people are in the hospital Tuesday following a two-vehicle crash in Cathedral City.

Noah Garcia, of Cathedral City, died at the Desert Regional Medical Center, as a result of the crash, the according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department Coroner's Bureau.

Cathedral City Police Department officers responded to reports of a vehicle crash at 9:21 p.m. Monday at Cathedral Canyon Drive between 33rd Avenue and Corral Road, where they learned one vehicle, driving north at a high rate of speed on Cathedral Canyon, crashed into a second vehicle that was making a southbound left turn from Cathedral Canyon onto 33rd Avenue, said Sgt. Jeffrey Barnett of the Cathedral City Police Department.

The first vehicle continued north and crashed into a mailbox, which sent it into a sideway skid and crashed into another mailbox, ending up in a driveway after slamming into two parked vehicles, Barnett said.

The first vehicle sustained major damage and the 19-year-old driver suffered major injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he later died, police said. Four passengers from the car -- a juvenile male, a juvenile female, a 20-year-old woman and 21-year-old woman -- were injured in the crash.

The two adult women suffered fractures and the others suffered non- life-threatening injuries, Barnett said.

The driver of the second vehicle was not injured and the passenger sustained non-life-threatening injuries. All were taken to a hospital by Cathedral City Fire Department personnel for treatment.

The first vehicle traveled 1,000 feet from the initial crash site, Barnett said, and two loaded, unregistered handguns were recovered inside the vehicle at the scene of the crash.

Anyone who has information related to this crash was asked to call the Cathedral City Police Department at 760-770-0300 or Traffic Investigator A. Felix at 760-770-0343 or afelix@cathedralcity.gov.