A boy suffered serious, non-life-threatening injuries Wednesday morning after an unlicensed teen driver struck him while he was crossing Atlantic Avenue near 15th Street, right outside Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Long Beach police said the crash happened at about 8:16 a.m.
According to Long Beach Post, the teenage driver lost control of the car while steering around a stopped vehicle, striking the boy as he crossed the street. Officers who responded to the scene detained the driver, who was found to be operating the vehicle without a license. Police withheld the driver's name because he is a minor.
Both the victim and the driver were taken to hospitals for treatment. The student sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries, while the driver suffered only minor injuries, per the same report.
A Campus Near the Crash Scene
Poly High sits at 1600 Atlantic Avenue, serving roughly 4,000 students as the flagship high school of the Long Beach Unified School District, according to Wikipedia. The location places the crash near a high school.
That broader context underscores why speed can affect the severity of a crash.
Unlicensed Driving Carries Its Own Legal Exposure
Unlicensed Driving Raises Legal Questions Driving without a valid license can expose a motorist to legal consequences. The report does not detail what happened to the vehicle.
A City Racing Against Its Own Vision Zero Deadline
Wednesday's crash comes as the city works toward a 2026 goal of eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries under a plan adopted in 2020. Instead, the city recorded 58 traffic-related fatalities in 2025 — its highest annual death toll since at least 1990 — after averaging 26 fatal crashes a year between 2000 and 2019, according to the Long Beach Watchdog.
City officials have moved to respond. The city has proposed creating a Traffic Safety Division within Public Works to advance Vision Zero goals. That week, Long Beach also began installing automated speed safety cameras in high-risk areas, CBS Los Angeles reported. Assembly Bill 645 is the state law cited in connection with the cameras.
Notably, this crash occurred during daylight hours, contrasting with federal crash statistics showing that 80% of pedestrian fatalities in Long Beach happen after dark, as Hoodline previously reported. The Wednesday morning timing placed the crash near a school during daylight hours.
The incident adds to a grim run of pedestrian crashes across Long Beach in recent weeks, including a fatal hit-and-run at Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue about eight months earlier and a deadly Metro train strike on Long Beach Boulevard. No further details on potential charges against the teen driver have been released.
