Gardena, CA, September 25 – A motorcyclist died after colliding with a Lexus ES300 at an intersection in Gardena, according to the Gardena Police Department, which said it has not determined what caused the crash. The rider was taken to a hospital following the collision, where he was later pronounced dead. His identity has since been made public by authorities, and police say the case remains under active investigation.
Gardena Motorcyclist Killed in Crash With Lexus at Marine and Western Avenues
The Gardena Police Department said the crash occurred at around 6:55 p.m. on September 17 at the intersection of Marine and Western avenues. A motorcyclist and a Lexus ES300 were involved in the collision at that intersection. Police said it is not yet clear what led up to the crash.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department sent crews to the scene, and the motorcyclist was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for medical treatment following the crash. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The motorcyclist has since been identified by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office as Daniel Zaragoza Salcedo, 27.
According to the Gardena Police Department, the driver of the Lexus was uninjured and cooperated with responding officers. Investigators with the department’s Traffic Bureau are looking into how the crash happened. Police have not released additional information about what led up to the collision, and no further details had been made public.
Lane splitting, and what the Vehicle Code actually says
Vehicle Code section 21658.1 defines lane splitting and authorises the California Highway Patrol to develop educational guidelines for it. What matters after a crash is the distinction the section draws: lane splitting is not prohibited in California, and not prohibited is not the same thing as legal.
The practical effect is that a rider who was lane splitting has not broken a rule by doing so, and an insurer that treats lane splitting as automatic fault is asserting something the statute does not say. Fault still turns on how each party behaved, the same as in any other collision.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
