Grace Edwards, 19, died days after she was struck near Bellflower Boulevard and Stearns Street.
LONG BEACH, Calif. — A Long Beach man has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges after police said a 19-year-old nursing student was struck and killed while walking with her mother in an East Long Beach shopping center parking lot.
The case moved into court this week six months after the crash that injured Grace Edwards on Nov. 2, 2025. Police said the driver was leaving a parking stall in a 2015 Lexus IS250 when the vehicle struck her in the 2200 block of Bellflower Boulevard, near stores that include Trader Joe’s and Five Below. Detectives later arrested the driver after a months-long investigation.
Long Beach police said officers were called to the parking lot at about 3:55 p.m. and found Edwards lying on the pavement with upper-body injuries. Long Beach Fire Department personnel treated her at the scene and took her to a hospital in critical condition. Detectives were told on Nov. 6 that she had died the day before. Police later identified her as Grace Edwards, a Long Beach resident. The driver stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators, police said. Investigators have said distracted driving is believed to have contributed to the collision, but officials have not publicly described the suspected distraction.
Police identified the driver as Desean Edwards, 40, of Long Beach. Local court reporting listed him as Deasean Alphonzia Edwards and said he has no apparent relation to Grace Edwards. Collision detectives arrested him in Long Beach on May 5. Police said he was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and they initially listed bail at $75,000. Prosecutors later filed two counts, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. At his first court appearance, a judge ordered him held on $30,000 bail, according to local court reporting.
The criminal filing marked a new stage in a case that began as a traffic fatality investigation. Police said their early findings were preliminary and not a formal investigative report. Officials have not released a full reconstruction report, and the public record does not yet explain what evidence led prosecutors to file charges after the long review. Authorities have not said whether investigators examined cellphone use, in-vehicle screens, nearby surveillance video, passenger activity or another possible source of distraction. They also have not released an estimated speed for the Lexus or said whether the vehicle’s backup systems were operating when it exited the stall.
The crash drew attention because it happened in a busy commercial parking lot where drivers, shoppers and pedestrians move between storefronts and parked cars. The area sits near Bellflower Boulevard and Stearns Street, a well-used East Long Beach corridor. Long Beach has also faced a rise in traffic deaths. Local reporting citing police data said the city recorded 56 traffic fatalities in 2025, the highest total since the early 1990s, and had recorded 22 traffic deaths so far in 2026. Police have not linked the Edwards case to a broader enforcement action, but the death became part of the city’s ongoing discussion about traffic safety.
Friends and relatives described Grace Edwards as a nursing student who cared deeply for children, her family and her church community. Haley and Scott Sousa, friends of the Edwards family, wrote in a fundraiser that Grace was “a vibrant and carefree 19-year-old girl” and “a steady example of what it means to love and serve others.” They said she helped care for children at church and in her neighborhood. The fundraiser named Tiffany Edwards as the beneficiary and had drawn hundreds of donations by this week. Family friends also said Edwards had discussed becoming an organ donor with her parents before the crash.
On Nov. 9, hospital staff, family and friends took part in an Honor Walk before Edwards was taken to an operating room, according to the family fundraiser. The organizers said her heart was donated to an 8-year-old child. Photos published by local media this week showed a small memorial in the parking lot near Bellflower Boulevard and Stearns Street, marking the place where the crash happened. The memorial has kept public attention on Edwards’ death as the court case begins.
The charges are allegations, and Edwards has not been convicted. As of May 9, he had pleaded not guilty, bail had been set at $30,000 and the next reported court date was scheduled for May 13.
Author note: Last updated May 9, 2026.