On the night she died, 72-year-old Song Tate was doing what she loved: caring for the people around her.
Tate had made it part of her regular routine to bring a warm meal to a group of strangers who spent time in front of a smoke shop near her family home, said her daughter Sonya Rose. Her usual route included dropping off the food, then spending time catching up with a friend nearby, Rose said.
But the night of Sept. 5, a hit-and-run driver struck Tate on Long Beach Boulevard near 23rd Street, according to Long Beach police. The impact sent Tate into the path of an oncoming Metro train, police said.
Rose didn’t find out her mom had been killed until the next morning, when she went out searching for her – as she had the night of the crash – and spotted her mother’s dark blue bandana stained with blood in the road.
Tate, who was born in Korea, had moved to Long Beach and worked for years at Boeing doing electrical work on the tails of airplanes, her daughter said.
Before her death, Rose and her mom had been saving up to take a trip to Korea to meet family members that Rose had never seen, she said.
Now, Rose is trying to raise money for her mom’s funeral. As of Monday evening, an online fundraiser had collected just over $9,300.
“Any amount, no matter how small, would mean so much to my family and help ease some of the burden we are carrying right now,” Rose wrote on the fundraiser.
For the past few years, Tate had lived with Rose, who took care of her as she aged. Even though her mom no longer worked, she still insisted on paying a portion of the rent. Tate also helped watch her 10-year-old granddaughter.
“They were so close,” Rose said.
Tate’s last words to Rose were to ask whether her granddaughter wanted anything from the store.
“She looked out for everybody,” Rose said.
Her mom loved to cook. She often made extra food so she could give it to people she didn’t know. After her death, Rose said “random people” have shown up at their house to pay their respects.
When she asks how they knew her mom, Rose said she usually gets the same answer: “Your mom used to feed me.”
Police have yet to find the driver who hit her. They’ve said only that she was struck by an “unknown vehicle.”
Tate’s death has left her daughter with many unanswered questions, like why isn’t there a divider between the traffic lanes and the train tracks?
And why won’t people slow down?
“It’s become an eye-opener how reckless people drive in these streets,” Rose said.
In the weeks since, she can’t help but notice drivers ignoring stop signs and not giving pedestrians the right of way while turning at a green light, Rose said.
Tate’s death comes amid a dramatic rise in traffic deaths on Long Beach roadways.
Last year, the city recorded 53 fatal collisions, its highest tally in more than a decade. Of those, 28 involved pedestrians.
This year, Long Beach has had 34 fatal crashes, with 17 involving pedestrians.
At a roadside memorial on Long Beach Boulevard, Rose wrote a message to her mom and left it alongside flowers, candles and a green bandana – her mom’s favorite color.
“You didn’t deserve this mom,” Rose wrote in the message. “Justice will be served. I love you.”