A woman was speeding and ran a red light in the moments before she crashed into another car at Atlantic Avenue and Anaheim Street last month, resulting in the other driver’s death, according to a description of the crash attached to a search warrant obtained by the Long Beach Post.
According to the warrant, video evidence shows a 31-year-old woman in a Lexus “traveling at a much greater speed than the flow of traffic.” She was headed northbound on Atlantic Avenue and ran a red light moments before broadsiding 60-year-old Rodger Watkins , who was driving eastbound on Anaheim Street, around 11:48 p.m. on Feb. 20, the warrant says.
The force of the impact caused Watkins to lose control of his vehicle and crash into a traffic pole and a nearby abandoned building, police previously said. Watkins, whose family said he was on his way to work as a custodian at Cal State Long Beach, died at the scene.
The woman, meanwhile, was taken to a hospital where she told police she split a bottle and a half of wine with a friend earlier in the evening, according to the warrant. Detectives secured the warrant to have her blood drawn, but those results remain pending, according to the documents, which the Long Beach Post reviewed Monday.