Community Corner

Update: Elderly Woman Dies from Injuries in Highway 111 Crash

The Rancho Mirage crash happened Tuesday afternoon, and the 81-year-old local woman died a few hours later, coroner's officials reported Wednesday.

A woman who was injured this week in a major wreck on Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage has died from those injuries, coroner's officials reported Wednesday.

81-year-old Barbara Schmitz of Rancho Mirage died at Eisenhower Medical Center about two hours after the 3 p.m. crash on Hwy 111 and Dunes View Road, according to coroner's reports.

The woman was the passenger in a Ford Focus which was driving along the highway when it was t-boned by a BMW sedan, according to police reports and The Desert Sun.  

The impact of the collision was so strong, that it flipped the car.  Both Schmitz and the man who was driving the Ford had to be cut from their overturned vehicle, according to sheriff's Sergeant Dave Adams.

"The driver of the second vehicle was transported to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries," he added.

Following the crash, all eastbound traffic on Highway 111 between Indian Trail and Rancho Las Palmas was blocked from passing until late Tuesday night-- for a total of eight hours, according to Adams.  

The cause of the crash is still under investigation and anyone with more information about the collision was asked to call Officer James Miller at (760) 836-1600.



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