Fatal car flip

A teen motorist was killed after his car turned over on a street in Long Beach last Sunday evening.

According to the Long Beach Police Department, Kevin Sturm, 18, flipped his 1994 Honda Civic in middle of the block on West Walnut Street, between Edwards and National Boulevards, at about 10:50 p.m. on Jan. 3. The Long Beach Fire Department responded to the accident scene and transported Sturm to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, where he was pronounced dead at 2:16 a.m. by hospital authorities.

“Speed doesn’t seem to have been a factor, alcohol and drugs don’t seem to have been a factor,” said Sgt. Bruce Meyer, a LBPD spokesman.

Meyer noted that police have not yet determined how the car flipped, but said that an investigation is ongoing. “It was one of these accidents in which there weren’t any witnesses who saw the car flip,” he said.

The traffic fatality is at least the fourth in Long Beach in about 17 months. Joseph Shannon, 76, of Florida died two days after he collided with a school bus while riding his bicycle at Monroe Boulevard and East Olive Street on July 28, 2008. On May 15, 2009, Evan Potts, 22, of Oceanside drove over and killed Ian Sharrin, an engineer from Long Beach, at West Park Avenue and National Boulevard, in what police believe was a road rage incident. A Point Lookout man, John Winter, 51, was struck and killed by a FedEx truck when its driver lost control of the vehicle on East Park Avenue, between Neptune and Roosevelt boulevards on July 28, 2009.

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