Off-Road Vehicle Driver Killed In Riverside County Crash

SAGE, CA — A 68-year-old man driving a compact off-road vehicle down a hillside in Sage apparently lost control, causing the vehicle to roll, ejecting and killing him while injuring his passenger, authorities said Tuesday.

Richard Albert Roberts Jr. of Hemet was fatally injured shortly before 4 p.m. Monday along a trail on private property at 45400 Damson Drive, at the foot of the San Bernardino National Forest, just east of Highway 74, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Officer Ricardo Palomera said that, at the time, Roberts was on a recreational ride with his stepson, 38-year-old Michael Schmidt, also of Hemet, aboard a 2006 Yamaha Rhino, which resembles a golf cart but fitted with all- terrain tires and capable of utility operations.

Palomera said while Roberts was trying to steer along a downhill dirt trail, the vehicle "overturned, resulting in both parties being ejected."

Riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the location a short time later and pronounced Roberts dead at the scene from major head trauma, while his passenger suffered a cut to the scalp, for which he declined to be transported to a hospital for further evaluation.

The accident remained under investigation Tuesday.