Hit-and-run driver kills 2, injures 3 in East Village, police say
A man and woman were killed in the crash at the intersection of Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue Sunday night, according to authorities.
Police say they’re investigating a crash at the intersection of Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue that left a man and woman dead and three others injured Sunday night.
The crash occurred when the driver of an orange 2021 BMW 330i headed eastbound on Sixth Street ran a red light around 10:14 p.m. Sunday, according to Long Beach police. The BMW then hit a gray 2022 Nissan Altima that was headed southbound on Atlantic Avenue and a black 2017 Kia Soul that was headed northbound, according to police.
LBPD officers arriving at the scene found the two rear passengers in the Nissan, identified only as a man and a woman, lying on the sidewalk and road, police said. The officers and Long Beach Fire Department personnel gave them aid but both died at the scene, police added.
Their identities are being withheld while the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office works to notify their next of kin.
LBFD personnel took the Nissan driver and front passenger as well as the driver of the Kia to a local hospital, according to authorities. None of their injuries were considered life-threatening, police said.
The driver of the BMW fled the scene following the crash, according to the LBPD.
Police said they believe speed was a factor in the collision.
Police are asking anyone who may have seen the crash to call LBPD Collision Investigation Detail Detective Edwin Paredes at 562-570-7110.
These are the first two traffic fatalities reported by the LBPD of 2026. Last year, the department reported 58 traffic-related fatalities, 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.
Traffic deaths hit a low in 1999 with 15, data shows. From 2000 through 2019, the city averaged 26 fatal traffic accidents per year.
In 2020, fatalities reached a 30-year high of 49. That same year, city officials passed the Safe Streets Long Beach Action Plan, which included Vision Zero and an ambitious goal of reducing "traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries to zero by 2026."
Traffic fatalities dipped to 45 deaths in both 2021 and 2022, data shows. That figure dropped to 36 deaths in 2023, but jumped to 44 in 2024.
We need your support.
Subcribe to the Watchdog today.
The Long Beach Watchdog is owned by journalists, and paid for by readers like you. If independent, local reporting like the story you just read is important to you, support our work by becoming a subscriber.
