One person died and two others were critically injured Wednesday when a truck collided with a car and then smashed through a cinderblock wall that separates Seventh Street from a residential neighborhood near Cal State Long Beach.
The crash between a sedan and a box truck happened shortly after 11:45 a.m. Wednesday on Seventh Street just west of Silvera Avenue, said Long Beach Fire Department spokesperson Brian Fisk.
Police said the crash happened shortly after a black 2023 Tesla Model 3 and a dark-colored Subaru were “involved in a road rage incident.” The two cars were soon seen “weaving through traffic at unsafe speeds” while heading eastbound on Seventh Street, according to Long Beach police.
The Tesla then rear-ended the box truck, causing it to swerve and crash through the wall on the south side of Seventh Street.
Dozens of fire department personnel responded. They found the box truck at an odd angle, Fisk said, so firefighters stabilized the vehicle and used the Jaws of Life to extricate three people from inside the wreckage.
One man inside the box truck was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Two other men from the truck were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
The Tesla, with a crumpled front-end, was sitting nearby, facing the wrong way. The driver of that car was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The identity of the deceased man was withheld pending family notification.
Speed and reckless driving were believed to be factors in the crash, police said.
Editor’s note: this article was updated with the cause of the crash.