A Long Beach mother is pleading for urgent street safety improvements after her 8-year-old son was killed on a busy North Long Beach street near a neighborhood park.<\/p>\n
Jeremiah King Hicks was struck by a vehicle on Paramount Boulevard near 56th Street Saturday afternoon, according to Long Beach police. Investigators said the driver remained at the scene and cooperated and authorities said speed, distracted driving, and impairment are not believed to be factors in the crash.<\/p>\n
But Hicks’ mother, Monique Boochie, questions that conclusion as she mourns the loss of her energetic, vibrant son.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is crazy,\u201d Boochie said at a growing memorial near the crash site. \u201cThey need a stoplight right here, put speed bumps right here. Why are you flying down this street and both of these apartments are full of kids\u2026 (do) anything, anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boochie said her son had been playing with neighborhood children when a ball rolled into the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was with two little kids that live in here, and they said the ball went out in the street and he\u2026 he went to get the ball,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Neighbors say the tragedy has reignited long-standing concerns about pedestrian safety along Paramount Boulevard, especially for children.<\/p>\n
The crash happened near the same location where a 4-year-old girl was struck and killed<\/a> in March 2024 while crossing outside of a marked crosswalk. In that case, police also said<\/a> speed, distraction, and impairment were not believed to be contributing factors.<\/p>\n Boochie remains unconvinced.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you were going 30 miles per hour, I don\u2019t think it would have had an impact like that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The latest death comes amid a troubling rise in traffic fatalities across Long Beach. City data shows 53 people were killed in traffic crashes last year \u2014 the highest total in a decade. Hicks\u2019 death marks the city\u2019s 23rd traffic fatality of this year.<\/p>\n The growing death toll has increased pressure on city leaders and law enforcement to explain what is being done to reverse the trend.<\/p>\n Long Beach Police Chief Wally Hebeish called the incident \u201ca heartbreaking reminder of how quickly unexpected tragedies can occur\u201d and emphasized the importance of roadway safety.<\/p>\n Eighth District Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk acknowledged community concerns but said policy discussions should wait until investigators complete their review.<\/p>\n \u201cPedestrian and traffic safety matter deeply to the residents of the 8th District and to me,\u201d Thrash-Ntuk said in a statement. \u201cBut those conversations must come after the investigation, not in the middle of one.\u201d<\/p>\n For Hicks’ mother, the call to action is immediate.<\/p>\n \u201cThere needs to be a stop sign right here\u2026 cameras\u2026 or speed bumps,\u201d Boochie said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense. Why is it always a kid getting hit or killed right here?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Long Beach mother is pleading for urgent street safety improvements after her 8-year-old son was killed on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-323914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}