Two Involved In Four Wheeler Crash On Forest

Calaveras County, CA — An ATV that overturned on the Stanislaus National Forest above the Camp Connell area resulted in serious injuries to a passenger over the holiday weekend.

The driver, 40-year-old Ulises Valencia of Tracy told CHP officers that he and his passenger, 63-year-old Benjamin Sanchez of Richmond were riding a 2015 Polaris Razor ATV eastbound on Forest Road 6N65 around 2 a.m. Saturday when they had to turn around due to a fallen tree blocking the roadway. As Valencia was making the U-turn the ATV hit a rut and flipped on its passenger side. Valencia says Sanchez put his arm out to brace himself and got it stuck under the four wheeler. He adds that there was no cell phone service, so they started driving down Highway 4 until they got a signal at Murphy’s and called for help.  From there, Sanchez was taken by ambulance to Sonora Regional Medical Center.

The CHP reports that there is no way to tell if alcohol and/or drugs played a role in the collision as too much time had elapsed to do any testing on either of the men.