The bicyclist killed in a violent hit-and-run crash Saturday at a Bluff Park intersection was an occupational therapist who worked with school-age children, her friends told the Long Beach Post.
Lori Ann Carreon, 54, lived less than a block away from where she was killed. The crash happened at the intersection of Second Street and Redondo Avenue at about 4:40 p.m. Saturday.
Police say a 2025 gray Hyundai Sonata was speeding westbound on Second Street when it ran a stop sign and hit Carreon while she was riding southbound on Redondo Avenue.
The crash sent Carreon flying off her bike. She landed on a parked car, smashing its windshield, said Mindee Meadows, one of Carreon’s friends. The force of the crash was so great that, days later, Meadows is still searching for one of Carreon’s shoes.
As of Tuesday evening, police were still searching for the Hyundai driver, who continued driving westbound on Second Street after the crash.
“Nobody deserves to die like this,” Meadows said. “Her life is worth more than that.”
Two of Carreon’s friends told the Long Beach Post that she loved cycling and running in Long Beach. She had lived in the Bluff Park neighborhood for roughly a decade and graduated from Cal State Long Beach. She also previously worked for the Long Beach Unified School District.
Carreon “was the light of this community,” said Zoë Larrabure, Carreon’s friend and neighbor.
The day after the crash, another of Carreon’s friends brought out a loudspeaker to set up alongside the roadside memorial to urge drivers to come to a full stop at the four-way intersection of Second Street and Redondo Avenue.
The intersection is a known hazard among neighbors.
Judith Nast, who lives in a house near the intersection, said she avoids crossing Redondo at Second Street and instead walks one block north to Broadway, where there is a traffic light with a marked crosswalk.
Meadows personally knows two other people who have been seriously injured at Redondo Avenue and Second Street within the past two years, she said.
A woman in her building suffered a broken pelvis when she was hit by a car two years ago, and an elderly man in the neighborhood suffered head trauma when he was struck by a car while riding his bicycle through the intersection, Meadows said.
Deadly traffic collisions have become a growing concern throughout the city. Despite officials’ vow in 2016 to eliminate traffic deaths by 2026, Long Beach recorded 53 fatal traffic collisions last year — its highest tally in more than a decade. Citywide, there have been five fatal crashes so far in 2026.
On Tuesday evening, District 2 Councilmember Cindy Allen announced that the city would install “high-contrast crosswalk markings” at Second and Redondo.
Meadows urged the city to be “proactive not reactive” to avert more traffic deaths.
“This was preventable,” Meadows said.