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Tuesday, June 27

3100 block of Marber Ave. A NextDoor poster reported, while walking a dog around 6:30 a.m., a resident saw a coyote walking on the opposite sidewalk. “He stopped and just stared at us. I tried to scare him away but it didn’t seem to phase him.” Last seen, “he was heading towards Mezzanine,” was the report on NextDoor. Another poster added, “There were two. My roommate saw them running down Mezzanine on the way to work” did not explain where the coyotes worked.

Friday, June 30

Atlantic Ave. and Willow St. Two vehicles collided at 12:20 p.m., with one vehicle flipped over as a consequence. One of the drivers, a 60-year-old woman, was trapped inside the vehicle. Firefighters got both drivers out and took them to local trauma centers.

Saturday, July 1

Long Beach Blvd. and Anaheim St. Another day, another collision, this one fatal. At 4:35 a.m., a 2011 Nissan Sentra, driven by a 36-year old male, of Long Beach collided with a 999 Lexus RX300, driven by a 26-year-old Los Angeles woman. The Sentra contained one passenger, while the Lexus, which had rolled on its right side, had three passengers. All were transported to hospitals for treatment. A 21-year-old male back seat passenger died of his injuries; the rest were in stable condition. As the collision took place in the middle of the intersection, police don’t know who had the green light. Witnesses are asked to call Collision Investigation Detective David Lauro at (562) 570-7355.

53rd St. at Orange Ave. A 32-year-old motorcyclist, Rafael Serrano of Long Beach was killed in a 5:45 p.m. crash. Serrano was speeding westbound and lost control of his 1992 Suzuki after it struck the west curb at Orange Avenue and then crashed into a cinder block wall.

Monday, July 3

Pacific Ave. and West Anaheim St. As documented in a viral video, an officer dealt with Carmen Mata, 22, who busied herself obstructing the roadway, waving her arms and yelling at motorists. She attempted to get physical with the officer by way of swift kicks. Avoiding her feet, with the help of a bystander, the officer finally took Mata to the ground. She allegedly continued to resist being cuffed, and only after additional officers arrived was she taken into custody. Police say she was intoxicated and under the influence of unknown narcotics. Mata has been charged with one felony count of resisting an officer and three misdemeanor counts of resisting, delaying or obstructing a peace officer. She faces a maximum possible sentence of six years in county jail if convicted as charged.

Tuesday, July 4

Citywide. War-zone time. A persistent sound of rumbling fireworks, followed by the occasional close-by explosion. Must be the Fourth. Despite all this, no major fireworks-related injuries were reported after a week of clamping down on various fireworks vendors. For the first four days of July, police made 40 felony and misdemeanor arrests and police and fire issued 46 fireworks and misdemeanor citations according to a city press release. In the post-8 p.m. period, emergency dispatch received an average of 16 calls a minute, well over the normal count. Other than a tree fire, a trash can fire and a minor eye injury, the scene was disaster-free.

14th St. and Orizaba Ave. A 22-year-old man walked into a hospital at 10:35 p.m. with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his lower body. Cops took a look and figured he was shot near Orizaba Park. No suspects or other information was released.

Friday, July 7

Ralphs parking lot Lakewood Blvd. and Outer Circle. At 9:20 a.m., a passerby spotted a medium-sized white and brown dog in the front seat of a brown Volkswagen bus with all the windows rolled up except for the driver’s side window, which was open about five inches during a summer heat wave. A customer called 9-1-1. Transferred to animal control, a report was made. As the call was ending, the owner came out saying he had only been in the store for five minutes, which was the amount of time the customer had been on the phone. “A reminder that people are watching,” said the witness/caller.

405 Freeway at Temple Avenue. A big-rig hauling an oversized load consisting of a large storage container ripped the cables down from a utility pole, which in turn pulled down a streetlight, at 10:30 a.m. at the northbound 405 Cherry Avenue off-ramp, With TV and internet cables lying across lanes of traffic, the cops briefly shut down the freeway in both directions. Crews cleared the cables off the freeway within an hour, and all lanes reopened around 11:30 a.m., except the off-ramp and Temple Avenue, a little known shortcut into the mysteries of Signal Hill, where it all began. Cable TV was thus interrupted for this up close and personal street version of Storage Wars.

steve@beachcomber.news