1:03pm | An elderly woman attempting to cross one of the city’s major thoroughfares early Friday morning stepped into traffic and narrowly missed being hit by one vehicle just before she was fatally struck by another, police said.
The incident occurred at about 6:05 a.m. near the intersection of Seventh Street and Pine Avenue, according to information provided by Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Pratt.
When officers arrived at the scene of the traffic collision, they found a female pedestrian, who earlier today was identified as 88-year-old Gui Wang of Long Beach, lying in the middle of the street with multiple injuries, police said.
Wang was rushed to a local hospital by Long Beach Fire Department paramedics. The injuries she sustained proved to be too serious, however, and she was pronounced dead a short time after arriving at the hospital, police said.
Pratt explained that the preliminary investigation has revealed that Wang was heading south on Pine and attempting to cross Seventh despite a red crosswalk light signaling that she did not have the right-of-way.
As Wang began to make her way across in front of oncoming traffic, a vehicle traveling westbound in the No. 3 lane slammed on its brakes and narrowly escaped hitting Wang. But as Wang continued, the driver of a 2002 Lexus RX300 traveling westbound in the No. 1 lane was not able to stop in time, striking the senior citizen, Pratt said.
The 56-year-old man from Westminster who was driving the Lexus was released at the scene with no charges pending, Pratt said.
The department is asking anyone who might have witnessed the collision to call Long Beach Police Accident Investigations Detective Brian Watt at 562-570-7355.