Crime & Safety

Fallbrook Man Killed in Rainbow Accident; DUI Suspected

Silvestre Hernandez, 52, married and a resident of Fallbrook, was the passenger of a 1989 Toyota Tacoma truck allegedly driven by an intoxicated driver, according to authorities.

A truck's passenger—later identified as 52-year-old Silvestre Hernandez of Fallbrook—was killed and its driver injured Sunday when the vehicle went off the road and rolled down a hill in the community of Rainbow near the San Diego-Riverside county line, authorities said.

The overturned truck was reported off the 1400 block of Rice Canyon Road near Rancho Taza Road shortly after 7:30 a.m. Sunday, but it was unknown when the crash occurred, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The 1989 Toyota pickup truck, driven by Gregorio Ruiz, 46, of Rainbow, was headed north on Rice Canyon Road when it veered off the roadway, then "rolled down the dirt hill and rolled over onto its roof at the bottom of the embankment that borders the west roadway edge," CHP Officer Jim Bettencourt said in a statement.

Medical personnel found Ruiz pinned in the wrecked truck, and the unrestrained passenger dead in the truck's cab, Bettencourt said.

Hernandez, married and a resident of Fallbrook, was pronounced deceased at 7:31 a.m., according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

"Fire personnel responded and confirmed his death at the scene," the ME's office wrote in a report.

Ruiz was taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries, authorities said.

Bettencourt said that alcohol was suspected in the crash, and Ruiz would face charges in connection with the passenger's death.

Rice Canyon Road was closed for about five hours for the investigation and the retrieval of the truck from the embankment, Bettencourt said.

—City News Service and Maggie Avants contributed to this report.


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