Coroner Identifies Freeway Crash Victim

The motorist killed in at the Winchester Road off-ramp just south of Murrieta was identified by the Riverside County Coroner's Office as 33-year-old Leonel DeLaTorre.

According to CHP, DeLaTorre was pronounced dead at the crash scene at 7:47 a.m. Friday, just 12 minutes after he struck a parked tractor-trailer.

According to a CHP report, DeLaTorre was headed southbound on the 15 Freeway in a 1997 Toyota “parking lot vacuum truck” when he collided with the tractor-trailer combination that had stopped on the shoulder of the Winchester Road offramp.

The tractor-trailer driver had reportedly stopped to call his dispatch center for directions, according to CHP.

Witnesses said the Wildomar man was traveling at approximately 35 to 40 mph when he drifted his truck onto the shoulder and smashed into the parked tractor-trailer, according to CHP.

A witness to the accident also reported the Wildomar man was “weaving” his vehicle prior to the fatal collision, CHP stated.

The Wildomar man was pronounced dead at the scene by Cal Fire officials.

The 55-year-old tractor-trailer driver from Texas, Donnie Miller, was not injured in the crash and no arrests were made, according to CHP.

Note: CHP had previously reported the crash victim's age as 34. The coroner listed the victim's residence as Riverside County; CHP listed it as Wildomar.