Fiery Fatal Crash, 9 DUI Arrests: Pass Area CHP Labor Day Stats

BEAUMONT, CA — One person died on the local roadways and California Highway Patrol officers arrested nine people in the San Gorgonio Pass area on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs during a Labor Day weekend crackdown, the agency tells Patch.

The fatal crash and DUI arrests occurred between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:30 p.m. Monday, as part of the statewide maximum enforcement period, according to the CHP San Gorgonio Area.

What's more, local officers issued a total of 140 traffic tickets and responded to 24 crashes, according to CHP Officer Darren Meyer.

Meyer says the deadly crash happened around 1 a.m. Sunday on State Street in San Jacinto, north of Record Road, as the motorist was driving "at a high rate of speed."

"For reasons unknown at this time, [he] made an unsafe turning movement to the right, went off the road and collided into a tree," Meyer said in a news release. "The severity of the impact caused the driver’s seat to detach from the vehicle."

The man, identified by coroner's officials as 46-year-old Michael Vega of San Jacinto, was ejected and died at the scene.

The crash also sparked a small vegetation fire nearby, which firefighters doused at 1:45 a.m., fire officials said.

The San Gorgonio Pass Area CHP office handles traffic enforcement on freeways, highways and unincorporated roads in Banning, Beaumont, Hemet, San Jacinto and surrounding locations.

The long weekend deployment was part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" and "Drive High Get a DUI" campaigns.

The CHP's next maximum enforcement period is scheduled around Halloween.

— City News Service contributed to this report