Crime & Safety

Motorist Crashes into Light Armored Vehicle in Military Convoy on SR 62

A motorist was injured Friday when he reportedly "took his attention off the road" and struck a Light Armored Vehicle in a military convoy en route from USMC Camp Pendleton to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, a CHP officer said Tuesday.

The crash occurred just after 5 p.m. Dec. 13 on State Route 62 east of Bonair Road in Joshua Tree, Officer Joan Griffin of the Morongo Basin California Highway Patrol said in a statement.

Anthony Hall of Twentynine Palms was driving east on the 62, Griffin said.

"There was a military convoy also traveling eastbound in the area from Camp Pendleton to Twentynine Palms," Griffin said. "Hall took his attention off of the road and looked down at an unidentified item in his vehicle.

"When Hall looked up, he saw the convoy ahead of him," Griffin said. "Hall struck the rear of a Light Armored Vehicle, spinning the LAV in a clockwise direction."

Hall was transported to Desert Regional Medical Center with moderate injuries, Griffin said.

Further details of the crash were not immediately available Tuesday.

Light Armored Vehicles "combine speed, maneuverability and firepower to perform a variety of functions, including security, command and control, reconnaissance and assault," according to the Marine Corps.

Marine Corps air and ground units were taking part in combined arms live-fire exercises scheduled through this week at Twentynine Palms, Air Ground Combat Center personnel advised earlier this month.

As many as 3,000 Marines and sailors from 1st Marine Division and 3rd Marine Air Wing were expected to take part in the exercise, "which is designed to train and prepare the participating units to deploy as an expeditionary fighting force across the full spectrum of conflict," according to the Marine Corps.


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