UPDATED: Off-Duty OC Deputy Dies in Elsinore Crash

Updated Thursday February 9, 2023 at 11:51am

LAKE ELSINORE (CNS) – An off-duty Orange County sheriff’s deputy was killed in a crash Thursday in Lake Elsinore, but the circumstances weren’t immediately clear.

The fatality occurred about 5:15 a.m. in the 25000 block of Railroad Canyon Road, near Canyon Hills Road, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

The agency said paramedics reached the location a short time later and pronounced the victim, whose name was not immediately released, dead at the scene. Video from the location showed a vehicle that appeared to have struck a tree in the roadway median.

“We are mourning the loss of one of our own,” according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Department statement posted to Twitter. “Earlier this morning, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department informed us that a member of our department was pronounced deceased at the scene of a traffic collision. Our greatest sorrow and condolences are for the member’s family and closest friends. During this time, we are collaborating with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department as we prepare to honor our fallen member.”

Dozens of the fallen lawman’s comrades gathered at the crash scene and saluted as his body — draped in an American flag — was removed from the vehicle and placed into a hearse. Just after 11 a.m., a law enforcement procession began, transporting the remains eastbound, presumably to the Riverside County coroner’s facility in Perris.

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