The 32nd annual Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade has resumed after temporarily pausing due to a motorcycle crash that injured 10 people.
The City of Palm Springs said on Facebook a traffic officer was involved in an accident on the parade route around 6 p.m. Everyone who was injured is being treated at local hospitals. Their injuries are not life threatening, the city added.
“We appreciate the community’s support and our thoughts are with the officer, his family and all of those injured today,” the city said.
According to an eyewitness account from a nurse who happened to be attending the parade with her family, an officer lost control of his motorcycle while attempting a trick, and severed his hand in the process. The motorcycle then continued moving into the crowd without him, crashing directly into an elderly couple and injuring several other nearby eventgoers.
The 32nd annual Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade was paused temporarily after a motorcycle crash that injured between six and seven people. According to an eyewitness account from a nurse who happened to be attending the parade with her family, a police officer lost control of his motorcycle while attempting a trick, and severed his hand in the process on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024.
“We did see him pop a wheelie and all of a sudden he went sideways and skid all the way over there,” eventgoer Veronica Ortiz of Pittsburg, California, told The Desert Sun at the scene, “and lost control and let go of the bike and it went straight into the crowd.”
A Desert Sun photographer on the scene saw six people taken away on stretchers, but all appeared to be alert.
Another eventgoer standing near the crash noted that the officer was going surprisingly fast before the crash occurred.
“I was telling my partner here that they were going dumbly fast,” witness Byron Ruvalcaba of Riverside said. “There are kids running around … to my eyes they were going recklessly (fast). My guess is 25 to 35 miles per hour.”
Ruvalcaba was one of the first people to run over to the officer after the crash, and confirmed his hand was severed, causing potentially the most serious of the injuries sustained from the incident. He also saw eventgoers yelling at the officer.
The crash occurred near 288 North Palm Canyon Drive around 6:30 p.m. The California Highway Patrol is investigating and requested both video and images be sent to PSCityGovernmentMedia@palmspringsca.gov, the city said.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.
The 32nd annual Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade was paused temporarily after a motorcycle crash that injured between six and seven people. According to an eyewitness account from a nurse who happened to be attending the parade with her family, a police officer lost control of his motorcycle while attempting a trick, and severed his hand in the process on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Police officer crashes into crowd at Palm Springs holiday parade
