The intersection of East Palm Canyon Drive and Cherokee Way is not unfamiliar with traffic. Cars pass through at all hours. Pedestrians cross when the signal tells them to. But on the night of April 29, something went wrong shortly after 8 p.m. A 78-year-old man from Palm Springs, later identified as Thomas Diguette, was walking in the east crosswalk when a vehicle moving eastbound hit him.
Emergency dispatch logs show the first calls came in between 8:15 and 8:18 p.m. Officers and paramedics arrived to find Diguette on the pavement with significant injuries. He was still alive. They loaded him into an ambulance and drove to Desert Regional Medical Center on North Indian Canyon Drive.
Inside the trauma bay, doctors worked on him. But the damage from the crash was too severe. The Riverside County Coroner recorded his death at 9:01 p.m. The window between impact and death was less than an hour.
Police investigators began piecing together what had happened. The vehicle that struck Diguette had been heading eastbound on East Palm Canyon Drive. According to early assessments, the driver likely had a green light and therefore the right of way when entering the intersection. Officers found no immediate evidence of speeding. No signs of intoxication. Nothing that pointed to criminal behavior. The driver did not flee. He stayed at the scene. He spoke with police. He cooperated.
The Palm Springs Police Department has been careful in its public statements. The findings are preliminary. The investigation remains active. Evidence is still being reviewed. The Traffic Division is leading the effort, looking at the timing of the light, the speed of the vehicle, the position of the pedestrian, and any other factor that might explain how a man in a crosswalk ended up in a hospital bed fighting for his life.
The Riverside County Sheriff Coroner’s Office formally named Diguette as the victim. Their records align with the dispatch logs. Injury occurred at 8:15 p.m. At the same intersection where officers first responded. A 78-year-old resident of Palm Springs. A pedestrian. A man who left home that evening and never returned.
Authorities have not released the driver’s identity. No arrests have been made. Officials have not ruled out the possibility that additional factors could emerge as the investigation deepens. But for now, the picture is incomplete. A crosswalk. A green light. An eastbound vehicle. A man struck. A hospital death recorded at 9:01 p.m.
The Palm Springs Police Department is asking anyone with information about the collision to come forward. Tips can be directed to the department or to Crime Stoppers. Every detail, no matter how small, could help fill in the gaps of what happened on that spring night at East Palm Canyon Drive and Cherokee Way.
