One sustains major injury in traffic collision

On Friday morning, a single vehicle traffic collision on Interstate 8 resulted in a driver and passenger sustaining injuries, stated a California Highway Patrol report of collision news release.

The incident occurred at approximately 5:20 a.m. on I-8, eastbound of Inkopah Road. Two Utah residents, Jefferson William Greenwood, 24, and Hans Stephen Jenkins, 32, were involved in the collision.

Greenwood, the driver, sustained only minor injuries with complaints of pain while Jenkins, the passenger, sustained major injury with blunt force trauma to his head.

Jenkins was life flown by a REACH helicopter to Desert Regional Hospital for care. Greenwood stated at the scene Jenkins was not wearing a seatbelt at the time, causing Jenkins to be ejected from the vehicle.

Greenwood was driving his 1988 Chevy Nova while Jenkins was seated as the right-front passenger on eastbound I-8, just east of Inkopah, at a stated 65 to 70 miles per hour in the left passing lane.

For an undetermined reason, Greenwood made an unsafe turning movement to the left and onto the dirt shoulder.

This caused Greenwood to lose control of his vehicle as it traveled down the descending dirt embankment. Greenwood was unable to regain control as the vehicle overturned down the embankment and into the dirt center divide.

While the vehicle was rolling over, Jenkins was ejected and struck the ground within the dirt center divide. Greenwood remained in the vehicle due to him wearing his seatbelt, stated the news release. After the collision stabilized, the vehicle came to rest on its wheel in the dirt center divide.

The vehicle then caught on fire.

Green was able to exit the vehicle on his own and went to assist Jenkins. As the fire department arrived, the vehicle became fully engulfed in fire.

Greenwood refused medical assistance at the scene and driving under the influence was determined not to be a major factor for the collision, the news release stated.