A man riding an electric scooter was seriously injured when he collided with a car just outside Hustler Casino in Gardena, and was found lying unconscious but breathing in the roadway before paramedics rushed him to a trauma hospital. The driver of the car stayed at the scene, was uninjured, and cooperated with police as investigators worked to piece together what happened.
According to CBS Los Angeles, the crash happened near Redondo Beach Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, right outside the 24-hour casino that has long served as one of the city's busiest commercial landmarks, according to arcCA Digest. Video from the scene showed several police cars and crime tape stretched across the area outside the casino as the Gardena Police Department opened its investigation. Police have not identified the victim, and the cause of the crash was not immediately known.
Conflicting Reports on Timing
Exactly when the crash occurred has become a point of confusion in early coverage. The Gardena Police Department initially reported the collision happened just after 10 p.m. on Saturday, per the station's report, but later reporting from MyNewsLA cites Lt. Matthew Hassoldt specifying the crash actually took place around 10 p.m. Friday, August 28. Traffic Bureau Investigator J. Zamudio is leading the collision inquiry, MyNewsLA reports.
Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics transported the unconscious rider to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in West Carson, one of four public Level I Adult Trauma Centers run by Los Angeles County, which handles more than 2,000 adult and pediatric trauma cases annually, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. The severity of his condition required immediate transfer to that regional trauma network rather than a standard emergency room.
What California Law Requires of Scooter Riders
It remains unclear whether the rider was wearing a helmet or whether speed, visibility, or a vehicle code violation played any role in the collision. Under California Vehicle Code §21235, e-scooter operators on public roads must hold a valid driver's license or instruction permit and are capped at a statewide 15 mph speed limit, per the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The same code, under §21235(g), bars scooters from sidewalks entirely, requiring riders to stick to roadways, marked bike lanes, or designated bike paths, according to Justia Law.
Helmets, meanwhile, are only legally mandatory for scooter riders under 18 under Assembly Bill 2989, which amended state law back in January 2019, according to Bay Area Bicycle Law. That leaves helmet use optional for adult riders like the one involved in Friday's crash, whose age and identity have not been released.
A Corridor With a History of Serious Crashes
This isn't the first severe wreck along this stretch of Redondo Beach Boulevard. A November 2025 crash at Redondo Beach Boulevard and Budlong Avenue left a pedestrian critically injured, according to Megeredchian Law, underscoring the corridor's history as a high-traffic commercial artery prone to serious collisions.
Nationally, emergency department visits tied to micromobility devices like e-scooters climbed 21% in a single year, reaching tens of thousands annually, with motor vehicle collisions posing the greatest risk of severe injury, per the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. A separate study published in MDPI found that e-scooter crashes involving motor vehicles carry significantly higher odds of hospital admission or trauma transfer than standard bicycle collisions, a pattern consistent with the trauma-center transport in this case.
Friday's crash also lands amid a string of e-scooter tragedies across the region this year, including a fatal e-scooter collision in Long Beach and a deadly hit-and-run involving a scooter rider in nearby South Los Angeles, both covered previously by Hoodline. The Gardena Police Department is asking anyone with information about the crash to contact Traffic Bureau Investigator J. Zamudio at 310-217-6189 or Sergeant V. Comez at 310-217-6122.
