Long Beach police have released new surveillance images of the car they believe struck and killed 72-year-old grandmother Song Tate before fleeing the scene near Long Beach Boulevard and East 23rd Street, as investigators work to identify the driver more than a month after her death.
According to KTLA, the newly released images show a silver Ford Mustang with a black convertible top, black stripes and black rims. Updated details shared by local Facebook users indicate that the suspect vehicle traveled east on Willow Street, turned south onto Long Beach Boulevard before the crash, and was last seen heading south on Pasadena Avenue toward 20th Street, according to a video posted by a Long Beach resident on Facebook. The collision happened around 8:52 p.m. on September 5 near 23rd Street, per that account, though KTLA reported police were called to the scene around 9 p.m. that night.
A Grandmother's Final Walk
Tate was out on her routine route delivering warm meals to strangers who gathered outside a smoke shop near her family's home when she was struck, according to the Long Beach Post. Her daughter, Sonya Rose, went looking for her mother after she failed to come home that night and discovered she had died only after finding her blood-stained blue bandana lying in the roadway the next morning, the outlet reported.
Officers who responded to the area found Tate lying on the Metro A Line tracks that run along the median of Long Beach Boulevard, and she was pronounced dead at the scene, per KTLA. Authorities initially said the vehicle impact had thrown Tate into the path of an oncoming Metro train and that she was struck a second time by the train. Detectives later determined, following further investigation, that Tate was never hit by the train at all — a correction to the timeline Hoodline reported in its initial coverage of the crash. The September 5 collision marked the fifth fatal incident involving Metro A Line light-rail tracks recorded across Los Angeles County this year, according to regional transit crash records cited in that same report.
Remembering Song Tate
Born in South Korea, Tate spent years doing electrical assembly work on airplane tails at Boeing in Long Beach, per KTLA. She lived with her daughter and helped raise her 10-year-old granddaughter, and she left behind a daughter, a son and that granddaughter. An online fundraiser organized by her family has raised more than $9,300 toward funeral costs and savings that Tate and Rose had been setting aside for an overseas trip to reunite with family in Korea, the station reported.
Rose described her mother to the Long Beach Post as a generous person who fed strangers and cared for her neighbors and community. On the GoFundMe page, Rose said the loss has affected her spiritually, emotionally, financially and physically. Grieving loved ones have since created a makeshift memorial near the crash site, and Rose has said she wants justice for her mother's death and hopes the driver is caught soon.
Rose also told KTLA she believes pedestrian protections near the tracks need further improvement, saying she wants to see more signal lights and stop signs installed near the railroad crossing.
A City Grappling With Rising Road Deaths
Tate's death lands amid a stretch of unusually deadly years on Long Beach streets. LBPD reported 56 traffic-related fatalities from 53 crashes in 2025, according to the Long Beach Watchdog; separately, the Long Beach Post reported 53 fatal collisions, 28 of which involved pedestrians. Through early October 2026, the city had already logged 44 traffic fatalities, including 17 pedestrian deaths recorded by late September, keeping the pace of deaths near last year's levels even as the city's 2016 Vision Zero goal aimed to eliminate all traffic deaths by this year.
Pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists make up just 14% of total traffic collisions citywide but account for 65% of all roadway fatalities and severe injuries, according to Safe Streets data published by the City of Long Beach. City data identifies speed as the primary factor behind the most severe crashes. State lawmakers have responded with legislation: California State Sen. Lena Gonzalez's office says Senate Bill 1279, introduced this year, would expand automated speed enforcement camera pilot programs along high-crash corridors in Long Beach, building on authorization granted under Assembly Bill 645, with camera deployment focused on high-injury corridors and school zones.
Potential Penalties Under California Law
Leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death or serious injury is classified as a wobbler offense under California Vehicle Code Section 20001, which can carry penalties of up to four years in state prison and fines as high as $10,000 when prosecuted as a felony, according to the Shouse Law Group. The statute requires drivers to stop and render reasonable aid regardless of fault, meaning the driver of the Mustang could face felony charges once identified and apprehended.
Authorities are urging anyone with information to contact Detective Edwin Paredes at 562-570-5130, or the Long Beach Police Department at 562-570-7110. Tipsters can also reach L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or submit tips online at lacrimestoppers.org.
