Hit-and-run driver dies after crashing car again while fleeing in Cathedral City

A hit-and-run driver was killed when he fled after causing one crash in Cathedral City, then lost control of his car and ran into a rocky hillside less than a mile away, police said.

The first crash happened around 6 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of East Palm Canyon Drive and Monty Hall Drive, near the Cathedral City Civic Center, according to a police press release. One person was brought to the hospital from that collision with injuries that were described as “moderate” and “not life threatening.”

Police say the driver who caused the crash then kept going east on Palm Canyon Drive before losing control and crashing into a hillside on the south side of the road about three-quarters of a mile away, near Officer Jermaine Gibson Drive. The driver, identified by the coroner as 56-year-old Palm Springs resident Paul Devine, was pronounced dead at a hospital a few hours later.

Gibson, for whom the road near the crash is named, was a Cathedral City police officer who died in 2011 in Palm Springs during a high-speed chase of a driver who had refused to pull over after a traffic violation. That driver was sentenced to life in prison .

Police said Friday that officers were still trying to determine the cause of Thursday's crash and have not determined if alcohol and drugs were involved.

Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com .

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Hit-and-run driver dies after crashing car again while fleeing in Cathedral City