CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Police are continuing to investigate a Sunday afternoon crash that sent one man to a regional trauma center with serious injuries.

Sgt. Rodd Joseph of the Clearlake Police Department said officers responded to a report of a possible injury traffic collision near the intersections of Morgan and Manakee avenues in the city of Clearlake at around 12:15 p.m.

He said initial reports indicated the crash involved a gray-colored sedan and a motorcycle.

When officers arrived, a black Mercedes sedan and a small off-road mini-bike were located at the scene, Joseph said.

The mini-bike rider was suffering from major injuries to his head and leg. Joseph said Lake County Fire personnel arrived and began treating the mini-bike rider, identified as 39-year-old Clearlake resident James West. 

West later was flown by air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he remained in critical condition late Monday afternoon, according to hospital spokeswoman, Katy Hillenmeyer.

The driver of the Mercedes, identified as 46-year-old Clearlake resident David Ford, was uninjured, Joseph said.

During the investigation it was discovered that the vehicle registration on Ford's Mercedes was expired. Joseph said Ford admitted that, prior to police arriving on scene, he had switched the license plates on his Mercedes with current license plates which belong to a different vehicle.

Joseph said the expired Mercedes license plates were located in some nearby bushes. Both vehicles later were towed from the scene.

The collision is still under investigation, Joseph said, but preliminary results indicate Ford was driving his Mercedes eastbound on Manakee Avenue at about the speed limit, when West – driving the off-road mini-bike – pulled out of a vacant lot onto Manakee Avenue directly in the path of the Mercedes.

The collision threw West from the mini-bike into the windshield of the Mercedes, causing him to suffer major injuries, Joseph said.

Joseph said West initially tried to convince Ford to drive him away before police arrived, and even tried to get into Ford’s vehicle.

West was found to have a suspended driver's license, Joseph said.

Once completed, the crash investigation will be referred to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office for charges on West for driving on a suspended license and Ford for false vehicle registration, according to Joseph.

Anyone who may have witnessed this collision is asked to contact investigating Officer Travis Lenz at the Clearlake Police Department, 707-994-8251, Extension 511.