Crime & Safety

Scooter Driver Killed in Truck Crash Named

Long Beach police say speeding and rain may have factored into driver losing control of the truck.

The L.A. Coroner's Office today identified a man who was killed after a truck struck his Piaggio Scooter on Pacific Coast Highway west of the traffic circle in Long Beach.

Mark Alonso, 51, of Long Beach died at a hospital after the Saturday night crash, said Los Angeles County Coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter. Long Beach Police Department officers questioned the driver of the pickup truck, who the department did not identify, but they did not arrest him. The accident remains under investigation.

The crash occurred about 10:05 p.m. Saturday on Pacific Coast Highway west of the Los Alamitos Traffic Circle, known locally as simply the Traffic Circle. Long Beach police spokeswoman Lisa Massacani said in a prepared statement about the crash:

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"The preliminary investigation determined that a 2003 Chevy S-10 Pick-Up was traveling westbound on Pacific Coast Highway from the Los Alamitos Traffic Circle when the driver lost control of his vehicle. The truck partially crossed the center median and collided with the decedent's vehicle, a 2009 Piaggio Scooter, which was traveling eastbound on Pacific Coast Highway.  The decedent's name is being withheld pending notification to his next of kin.

 "The driver of the truck, a 25-year-old male resident of Long Beach, was detained, questioned, and released. The cause of the accident is undetermined, but excessive speed and wet roadways may have been a factor. The investigation is ongoing and charges may be pending." (note on the link that the age is incorrect; Alonso is 51.)

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Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call Long Beach Police Department Accident Investigations Detail Detective Sirilo Garcia at (562) 570-7355.  Anonymous tips via text or web may be submitted by visiting  www.tipsoft.com.

--City News contributed coroner's information.


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