(This story was updated with new information.)
A 68-year-old man in a wheelchair was struck by two vehicles while crossing Date Palm Drive in Cathedral City early on the morning of Tuesday, June 17.
The man was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition as of Tuesday morning, according to a press release sent out by the Cathedral City Police Department. Police said the driver of the first vehicle fled the scene without stopping.
Police learned of the incident at around 3:26 a.m., after receiving multiple calls of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle, the release said. Officers arrived to find a man police described as having suffered “multiple injuries.”
According to the police, the man attempted to cross Date Palm Drive, south of Gerald Ford Drive, outside of a crosswalk when a white van traveling southbound struck him and continued without stopping. Moments later, another vehicle also traveling south struck the man as he lay on the roadway.
While the driver of the second vehicle stopped and was interviewed by police, the first driver was last seen continuing southbound over the Date Palm Drive Bridge, police said.
Police ruled out impairment as a cause for the second collision.
Law enforcement believes the white van to be a Toyota Sienna from the 2011 to 2020 model years, based on security footage. The department released a rendering of the vehicle to the public.
Police asked anyone with information to call traffic investigator Albert Felix at 760-770-0343 or email him at afelix@cathedralcity.gov.
Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Man in wheelchair struck by hit-and-run driver, critically injured in Cathedral City
Reporting by Sam Morgen, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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