A 15-year-old passenger was killed and the driver of the car the teen was riding in was arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influence after a predawn crash on the southbound 215 Freeway at Cactus Avenue in Riverside County, according to a California Highway Patrol news release quoted by CBS Los Angeles. CHP officers were called to the southbound lanes of Interstate 215 near Cactus Avenue at about 3:35 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, for a report of a multi-vehicle crash near March Air Reserve Base, the release said.
According to the CHP release quoted by CBS Los Angeles, a 2008 BMW X5 was traveling at a high rate of speed when it collided with the rear of a GMC Sierra that was towing a trailer carrying a side-by-side all-terrain vehicle. On impact, the BMW and the ATV overturned onto the roadway, and the BMW continued out of control until it came to rest in the middle lane of the northbound 215 Freeway. Riverside County Fire Department paramedics pronounced the BMW’s 15-year-old passenger dead at the scene; the driver and two other passengers were taken to a nearby hospital, and the driver of the GMC was uninjured. KTLA, citing a CHP spokesperson, reported a slightly different sequence — that the ATV came off the trailer and struck the BMW, which then rolled, ejecting the teenager — and reported that both directions of the freeway were closed while the scene was investigated and cleared. The BMW driver was placed under arrest for a felony charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, the CHP release said. Anyone with information is asked to call CHP Accident Investigation Unit Officer A. Moberg at 951-324-7210.
