Long Beach Officer In Crash En Route to Checkpoint

In a coincidental moment Saturday night, a Long Beach police motor officer bound for a  DUI and unlicensed driver checkpoint struck an unlicensed driver. The officer was hospitalized with injuries that he'll survive, while the driver was unharmed but lost his car for a month, the Long Beach Police Department said.

According department spokeswoman Lisa Massacani, who did not name either driver in the crash, police may impound an unlicense driver's car for 30 days.

Three Long Beach police motor officers were traveling west on Anaheim Street, headed for a DUI and unlicensed driver checkpoint  at 6:10 p.m. when the accident occurred. The driver of a blue Ford Focus, a 47-year-old Long Beach man, was eastbound on Anaheim and turned left on the green toward northbound Walnut Avenue. 

Massacani said the driver made the turn unsafely given the motor officer had the right-of-way, and the officer could not stop in time; he struck the Ford Focus. He was cited for an unsafe turn and driving without a license, and his car was impounded, Massacani said in a press release issued Saturday night.