Man in wheelchair killed in Long Beach hit-run; surveillance video released
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Long Beach police are searching for a hit-and-run driver who fatally struck a man in a wheelchair Friday.
Jose Guevarra, 55, was leaving a 76 gas station at Santa Fe Avenue and Lincoln Street just before 10 p.m. when a car slammed into him as he crossed the street in an unmarked crosswalk.
Guevarra was traveling in a wheelchair, disabled from diabetes. He was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Guevarra died on Sunday, devastating his tight-knit family of seven.
"The car didn't stop and hit him and kept on going even though the wheelchair was stuck under the vehicle," Guevarra's younger sister, Jennifer, said.
Police say the suspect drove about a block with Guevarra's wheelchair wedged underneath it.
Witnesses are now being asked to come forward.
"There was a couple of vehicles behind the vehicle that struck my brother and none of them stopped," Jennifer said.
Investigators are reviewing surveillance video from the area and believe the hit-and-run car may have been a green sedan, possibly a BMW. It should have considerable damage from the collision, investigators said.
Meantime, the Guevarra family is left grieving.
"When I saw my brother lifeless at the hospital, my question was why," Jennifer said. "How could someone not stop and how could someone just keep going and not even see if the person that they hit was OK?"
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information was urged to contact the Long Beach Police Department Collision Investigation Detail Detective Sirilo Garcia at (562) 570-7355.
