A 23-year-old Los Angeles man has died from injuries he suffered in a two-vehicle crash at a Long Beach intersection that has already claimed a life once before. Alejandro Munoz was driving a 2017 Cadillac CTS when he attempted a U-turn near the intersection of Hayes Avenue and Anaheim Street on August 14, striking a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck headed east on Anaheim Street. Police were notified Friday that Munoz had died of his injuries, roughly two weeks after the collision.
According to MyNewsLA.com, the pickup truck's driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. The Long Beach Police Department has said the crash was not attributed to impaired driving or distracted driving, ruling out two of the most common causes of fatal collisions. Under California Vehicle Code Section 21801(a), drivers making a U-turn or left turn must yield the right-of-way to oncoming vehicles close enough to pose an immediate hazard, a duty they must maintain until the turn can be completed safely, according to Justia Law.
A Familiar and Deadly Intersection
This is not the first fatal crash at this exact intersection. On August 7, 2024, a 50-year-old mini motorcycle rider was killed in a collision with a turning tractor-trailer at West Anaheim Street and Hayes Avenue, according to the City of Long Beach. Hoodline covered that earlier collision in a 2024 fatal crash report. Anaheim Street itself is designated as part of Long Beach's High Injury Network, the subset of city streets identified in municipal safety planning as having a disproportionately high concentration of severe and fatal collisions.
A violation of Vehicle Code Section 21801 is classified as a traffic infraction carrying a fine and one point on a driver's DMV record, and it can also establish a civil presumption of fault under the state's comparative negligence standards, per Shouse Law Group. Detectives with the Long Beach Police Department's Collision Investigation Detail are asking anyone with information about the crash to call investigators at (562) 570-7355, or to submit an anonymous tip through LA Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
Another Entry in a Grim 2026 Tally
Munoz's death marks at least the 28th traffic-related fatality recorded on Long Beach roadways in 2026, following 27 such deaths reported through early August. The count has climbed steadily this year, following the fatal crash chronicled in Hoodline's report on an e-scooter rider's death on Walton Street, as well as a fatal multi-vehicle wreck near Bellflower and a fatal left-turn collision on Alamitos Avenue reported later the same month.
The surge follows a brutal 2025, when Long Beach recorded 53 traffic collision fatalities — the city's highest annual death toll in more than a decade, and a figure that exceeded its 29 homicides that same year. The numbers stand in stark contrast to the city's own goals: Long Beach adopted its Safe Streets Action Plan under a Vision Zero framework back in July 2020, setting a formal municipal target to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries citywide by 2026 — the very year now on pace to extend the grim streak.
City Response Still Taking Shape
In August, Mayor Rex Richardson proposed creating a dedicated Traffic Safety Division within the Public Works Department as part of the fiscal year 2027 budget, aiming to accelerate traffic-calming and engineering projects along High Injury Network corridors like Anaheim Street. Long Beach was also named one of six California cities authorized under Assembly Bill 645 to pilot automated speed enforcement cameras along designated High Injury Network corridors, including portions of Anaheim Street, though it remains unclear when such cameras might be installed near the Hayes Avenue intersection. For now, the stretch of roadway where Munoz died carries the same designation it did in 2024 — a known hazard on a street the city has flagged, but has yet to fix.
