Mom Sues City Over Son's Death

The mother of a young man killed by a hit-run driver while crossing Spring Street near El Dorado East Regional Park last year is suing the city of Long Beach, alleging that officials knew the area was dangerous for pedestrians and did not take steps to prevent such tragedies.

Rosa Gomez, the 43-year-old mother of Daniel Gomez, filed the wrongful death suit Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. She seeks unspecified damages.

A representative for the Long Beach City Attorney’s Office did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Daniel Gomez, 20, was killed after being hit by a car traveling west on Spring Street near Karen Avenue about 12:10 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2014. He was trying to cross Spring Street from El Dorado Park to his neighborhood, the suit states.

According to the lawsuit, Spring Street was designed as a major arterial street decades before El Dorado Park was developed.

“The city of Long Beach chose not to erect any fence or foliage prohibiting ingress or egress on Spring Street,” the suit states. “In essence, the city of Long Beach had created an attractive park open to its residents with no direct access but by crossing Spring Street at Karen Avenue.”

The city also knew pedestrians would cross Spring Street to reach the park’s bicycle and pedestrian path and went so far as to create a curb ramp on the median island to assist them, the suit states.

Previous fatalities in the area before Gomez’ death prompted residents to ask the City Council to offer solutions, including putting in a traffic signal with a crosswalk, according to the lawsuit.

Knowing the dangerous situation, the city could have taken steps to deter pedestrians from crossing Spring Street at Karen Avenue by putting up a fence or barrier to prevent access to El Dorado Park at that location and by not having curb ramps on the highway median, the suits states.

City News Service