Coroner IDs Man Found In Highway 79 Death

BEAUMONT, CA — A man who was found slumped over his steering wheel after his car came to a complete stop in the fast lane of the highway over the weekend may have suffered a medical emergency, the California Highway Patrol says.

Riverside County coroner's officials say 50-year-old William McCumber died just over an hour after he was found at 6:40 a.m. Sunday in the southbound lanes of State Route 79, just south of First Street, in Beaumont.

"Someone called 911 because they said the vehicle was blocking the fast lane," CHP Officer Darren Meyer tells Patch. "It was just stopped in the middle of the road."

Meyer says paramedics were called to the scene, who soon discovered "a male was slumped over the wheel" and rushed him to San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning. Initial reports indicated that the man was deceased when he was found, but officials now say he died at the hospital.

According to Meyer, McCumber had not crashed and there was no one else in the 2002 blue Honda Accord.

"He suffered a possible medical emergency, but we don't know for sure," he said.