The driver of a pickup truck who died after suffering a medical emergency and slamming the vehicle into the outdoor patio of a Long Beach restaurant was a beloved elementary school teacher and assistant coach of the Wilson High School swim team.
The coroner’s office has yet to post the victim’s name on its website, but he was identified Saturday as Latham Bell, 53, of Seal Beach, a teacher at Florence Bixby Elementary School who was on his way to a Wilson swim meet, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
The team won its record 45th consecutive Moore League swim championship on Thursday, according to the newspaper.
“It’s been a wide spectrum of emotion,” said Wilson head swim coach Eric Berg, a lifelong friend of Bell’s who attended Wilson with him. “He’s one of the most selfless people I’ve ever known. He was always there with a helping hand. He was a father, grandfather, mentor to a lot of kids.”
The Bixby Elementary website lists Bell as a fifth-grade teacher.
Three restaurant patrons were injured in the crash, reported at 3:35 p.m. Thursday at Los Potros in the 1900 block of East Pacific Coast Highway, according to Marlene Arrona of the Long Beach Police Department.
The pickup driver now identified as Bell was taken to a Long Beach-area hospital in critical condition, then was transferred to a Los Angeles hospital, where he died, police said.
An autopsy will be conducted to determine his cause of death.
The three restaurant patrons — a woman and two men — were hospitalized for apparent non-life-threatening injuries, Arrona said.
“The preliminary investigation indicated a gray 2006 Dodge Durango was traveling westbound on East Pacific Coast Highway, when it is believed the driver experienced a medical emergency and lost control of the vehicle,” a police statement said.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call Detective David Lauro at (562) 570-7355, or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.
—City News Service