UPDATE (July 10, 2025): Los Angeles County officials reportedly identified the victim as Lihuan Wu. Right now, additional details about the accident are unavailable.
Long Beach, CA — June 18, 2025, a man was killed as the result of a semi-truck accident at around 6:40 a.m. along Pier T Avenue.
Authorities said in preliminary statements that the accident happened, near the Gerald Desmond Bridge.
According to officials, a man in a semi-truck pulled over along the side of the road and was outside on foot by the engine. At that time, another truck approaching the man somehow did not avoid the parked truck, crashing into it. This caused the man on foot to be run over by the parked truck.
Due to the accident, the parked truck’s driver was killed. There were no other confirmed injuries. Right now, authorities say they’ve ruled out speed, distracted driving, and impairment. Investigations continue.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
I just want to be clear up front that I’m seeing the same news reports as everyone else, and I’m not here to suggest I know more about this situation than what’s in the news. However, authorities say they’ve ruled out some common factors. I’d be curious to know how exactly they ruled them out.
Commercial truck accidents are incredibly complex, and it takes careful analysis of the evidence to adequately put a story together. Pulling vehicle data, mapping out the scene, ordering blood tests, looking for camera footage of the crash, canvassing for witnesses, pulling cell phone records, etc. Well, at the time of writing this, it’s barely been 24 hours since the crash happened. If someone came to me about a deadly truck wreck, and I saw authorities ruling things out so quickly, I’d be worried that they drew their conclusions not based on clear evidence but rather on a one-sided statement from the only person who survived the accident.
Let me give an example to show why this isn’t just speculation, but real-world experience. We had a case not long ago involving a truck that hit a vehicle which was disabled on a highway. The initial reports said the victim’s vehicle was not clearly visible, so the truck driver had no reasonable chance to avoid a collision. Through our own efforts, though, we found out the truck had a camera inside the driver’s cabin and on the dash, and authorities never pulled the video. We did, and it revealed a whole new disturbing series of events.
From the video, it was clear that the victim had their hazard lights on and was visible nearly three-quarters of a mile down the road. The truck made no attempt to move over or slow down. Why? From the cabin video, it was revealed the truck driver was too busy watching shows on his tablet to look up at the road. By the time he did, it was already too late.
Again, I’m not trying to suggest that happened here. But of the hundreds of commercial vehicle accident cases I’ve handled, I’ve lost count of how many times authorities came to conclusions that they didn’t have sufficient evidence to back up. That’s why it’s often helpful to ensure there are thorough independent investigations that verify whether or not authorities actually dug into the evidence.
All said and done, the evidence may show that authorities did their due diligence and let the facts speak for themselves. That said, it’s ultimately up to families to decide whether all of their concerns are being addressed or they’d feel more comfortable having independent investigators look things over to ensure nothing slipped through the cracks.
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