(L.A.) Rodger Watkins, 60, Died in a Vehicle

Case Number: 2024-03122

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 60-year-old Black male that occurred in a vehicle.

The coroner’s office has identified the man as Rodger Watkins.

Manner of Death: Accident

Cause of Death: Multiple Blunt Force Trauma

RIP RODGER LEE WATKINS (March 6, 1963 – February 20, 2024)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Tuesday at 11:58 p.m.

The decedent was fatally injured in a crash just north of St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.

Police say he was driving a 2012 Ford Focus eastbound on Anaheim Street when the driver of a 2012 Lexus IS250 who was headed northbound on Atlantic Avenue broadsided him in the middle of the intersection.

The impact caused him to lose control of the Ford Focus and strike a traffic light and an abandoned building. The driver of the Lexus also lost control and hit a bus bench; she remained on scene before being taken to a hospital.