A woman was killed outside It’s a Grind coffe shop on Pine Ave. near 3rd St. early this morning after a late-night bar argument escalated and moved into the street. She was one of two people struck by a reversing vehicle when it jumped the sidewalk.
Witnesses said that the altercation began between unknown parties inside Taco Beach at around 1:30AM and that eventually, a group spilled out of the bar and into the street where the woman and another victim were struck by a reversing car that immediately fled the scene.
“The impression I got was that someone in the group was arguing with one of the guys in the car,” said a witness who did not want to be named but was on the scene immediatly after the accident. “One of the guys kept saying that he told her to get away from the car and before anyone knew what happened, she had been run over.”
Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Marlene Arrona said that both victims were transported to the hospital where the woman was pronounced dead. Police did not identify the deceased, however, the Press-Telegram is identifying the victim as 24 year-old Serena Medina, a Long Beach resident and mother of a four year-old girl. Police didn’t provide information about the other victim.
The driver of the vehicle fled before police arrived, but police scanner activity indicated that the suspect may have been driving a silver Lexus. It should have visible damage to the rear.
Pine Ave. was closed between Broadway and 3rd St. for most of the morning Wednesday, reopening shortly before noon but with police paint visible and several newspaper racks missing in front of the coffeeshop.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call LBPD dispatch at (562) 435-6711.
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