CHP Hunts White Truck in Wednesday Hit-and-Run

The California Highway Patrol is on the lookout for a white utility-type pickup truck with dual back wheels and a black rack in connection with a hit-and-run motorcycle crash Wednesday morning.

A call came in at 6:56 a.m. Wednesday that a motorcycle was engulfed in flames at the base of the Avenida Vista Hermosa exit on the I-5 Freeway southbound through San Clemente, said Officer Denise Quesada. A good samaritan pulled the rider away from the bike and to the right shoulder, she said. 

The CHP closed the exit and the right southbound lane for about an hour after the accident, Quesada said. Paramedics took the rider -- Matthew Brown, 25 -- to Mission Hospital, but he initially didn't appear to have sustained life-threatening injuries, she said. The full extent of the injuries were unclear as of noon Wednesday, however.

Officer Tom McCulloch of the CHP's Capistrano station said witnesses saw the truck exit onto Vista Hermosa, and the patrol sent cars into San Clemente to hunt for the vehicle.

Officers had no luck finding the truck or its driver as of noon Wednesday, McCulloch said.

The incident may have been a "no-contact" hit-and-run, meaning the motorcyclist was attempting to avoid a collision and lost control, McCulloch said. Several witnesses said they saw the truck swerve to quickly change lanes to take the exit, he said.

If anyone witnessed the accident, call the CHP at 949-487-4000.