72-year-old man dies after truck goes into water in East Long Beach, police say
The man and a woman were heading north on Studebaker Road when their truck hit the bridge railing and fell into the Los Cerritos Channel Wednesday, authorities said.
Police are investigating the death of a man whose truck went off a bridge and into the water in East Long Beach early Wednesday morning.
Long Beach police say the man and a woman passenger were heading north on Studebaker Road near Loynes Drive when their 2016 Toyota Tundra pickup truck hit a bridge railing and fell into the Los Cerritos Channel around 4:20 a.m.
The truck then came to rest "in several feet of water," according to a Long Beach Fire Department social media post.
The passenger was able to get out of the truck and wade to shore, where she flagged down help, according to the LBFD.
The driver was ejected from the vehicle and sustained "life-threatening injuries," fire officials said.
LBFD personnel took both victims to a local hospital, where the man died of his injuries, according to authorities.
Long Beach police described the man only as a 72-year-old resident of Grover Beach, California.
At this time, LBPD collision investigators said they believe that speed and distracted driving may have contributed to the crash.
Authorities are asking anyone who witnessed the crash to call LBPD Collision Investigation Detail Detective D. Dougherty at 562-570-7355.
This is the 29th traffic fatality reported by the LBPD in 2026. Last year, the department reported 56 traffic-related fatalities from 53 crashes, making it the deadliest year on the road since at least 1990, when the city reported 51 deaths, according to LBPD data from a public records request by the Watchdog.
The LBPD reported 31 traffic fatalities by this time last year.
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