Crime & Safety

Two Die in Head-On Crash of Semi and Acura on 330 below Running Springs

The crash occurred about 2:50 p.m. Monday Oct. 22 on SR 330 about 10 miles below Running Springs, according to the coroner and the CHP.

Two men died Monday in a head-on crash on State Route 330 below Running Springs, and the busy mountain road north of Redlands and Loma Linda was closed about seven hours, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash occurred about 2:50 p.m. Oct. 22 on SR 330 about 10 miles below Running Springs, according to the coroner and CHP Officer S. Brake.

Juan Navarro, 33, of Pomona was driving a semi tractor trailer, loaded with "a forklift and a Bobcat skid steer," south on the 330 when the truck went "up a near-vertical rock mountainside," the CHP reported.

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Navarro came out of the truck and the truck continued south without a driver, colliding with a northbound 2005 Acura driven by Robert McCown, 59, of Big Bear Lake, the CHP and the coroner reported.

Paramedics and the CHP responded. Navarro and McCown were both pronounced dead at the scene, coroner's personnel said in a statement.

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McCown's wife, Barbara McCown, 58, was also in the Acura. She sustained minor injuries and she was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, the CHP reported.

The location is about a mile north of the City Creek ranger station, Brake said Tuesday in a phone interview. The 330 was closed both directons for seven hours and re-opened about 10 p.m., Brake said.

The CHP was investigating the crash. Anyone with more information was urged to call the CHP in Running Springs at (909) 867-2791.

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