La Puente Personal Injury Attorney

La Puente is a flat, 3.5-square-mile city about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, and its name, Spanish for “the bridge,” dates to the 1769 Portolá expedition’s crossing of the San Gabriel River (Wikipedia). By the state’s 2023 ranking it looks like a middling place for crashes. A closer look at ten years of serious-injury records tells a different story, and several things people assume after a La Puente crash do not hold up. A La Puente personal injury attorney would check the beliefs below against the record before anyone deals with an insurer, and this page does that.

La Puente at a glance

• 36,423 residents, 2025 estimate (Census)
• 2023 victims: 93 (OTS)
• Patrol: Industry Station (Wikipedia)

Serious crashes over ten years

South Pasadena’s March 2024 traffic-safety update compiled state collision data for neighboring cities, and its table for La Puente counts crashes that killed or seriously injured someone each year (City of South Pasadena):

The decade averaged about nine a year, but the last three years in the table were the three highest. The same report placed La Puente 53rd in Los Angeles County.

Four early questions

I live in Bassett. Does it matter that I was hurt just across the city line?

It can. Bassett and West Puente Valley are unincorporated neighborhoods next to La Puente, so the County, not the city, owns those roads. A pothole or signal problem on the Bassett side means a claim to Los Angeles County, not to La Puente City Hall.

The insurer offered to settle within a week. Should I take it?

Wait until your doctors can say how badly you were hurt. A signed release ends the claim for good, and some injuries, such as concussions and back injuries, are not fully understood for weeks.

My father was hit crossing the street. Can I handle the claim for him?

If he is able to make his own decisions, the claim is his, and you can help him with it. If he cannot, a legal representative may need to be appointed.

The other driver’s adjuster keeps calling. Must I answer?

No. Once you have a lawyer, the adjuster’s calls go to the lawyer, and you are not required to be recorded.

Six beliefs, checked against the record

“A quiet city means minor crashes”

The belief: a city that ranks 65th of 93 for total victims, and 62nd on the state’s composite measure, produces mostly fender-benders.

The record: the number of crashes that maim or kill has been climbing. Twelve or thirteen serious crashes a year from 2020 through 2022 is three to four times the 2014 and 2015 levels. A modest total count says little about how badly any one person was hurt, and an insurer’s opening offer should be measured against your medical records, not the city’s ranking.

“The deputy’s report decides who was at fault”

The belief: whatever the Sheriff’s report says about fault is final.

The record: a collision report is one piece of evidence. An Industry Station deputy who arrives after the vehicles have been moved and the witnesses have left is reconstructing events, and the deputy’s conclusion about fault is an opinion that can be challenged with photographs, video and physical evidence. Fault is ultimately decided in negotiation or by a jury, and California divides it by percentage instead of all-or-nothing (CACI 405).

“If the driver took off, nobody pays”

The belief: a hit-and-run leaves the injured person with nothing.

The record: hit-and-run is one of the categories where La Puente does worse than its overall standing; ten injury crashes in 2023 put it 33rd (OTS). An unidentified driver leaves your own uninsured motorist coverage, or a household relative’s, as the source of payment for injuries, and the insurer will expect the Industry Station to have been told promptly. Three steps keep that claim alive:

1. Same-day call to the Industry Station.
2. A letter to your insurer naming it a hit-and-run.
3. Camera requests to the shops on that block.

“An older pedestrian’s case is worth less”

The belief: an injury to a retiree is a smaller claim.

The record: older walkers are where La Puente’s pedestrian numbers look worst. Eleven people on foot were hurt or killed in 2023, 37th of 93, but the three among them aged 65 or older put La Puente 24th on the state’s older-pedestrian measure. California law does not discount pain and suffering by age. A retired person may have little or no lost income, but medical costs, the loss of independence and the need for care are all part of the claim. Insurers sometimes blame an older walker’s injuries on prior health problems; our pedestrian accident page explains how that argument is answered.

“The stop-sign driver had the right of way”

The belief: once a driver has stopped at a stop sign, the collision is no longer that driver’s fault.

The record: stopping is only half the rule. California also requires the stopped driver to wait for cross traffic that is near enough to be an immediate hazard (Vehicle Code §21802). On July 2, 2026, at about 5:45 in the morning, a motorcyclist was killed at East Amar Road and North Evanwood Avenue in a crash with a minivan that had entered from a stop sign, according to ABC7, with information provided by the CHP (ABC7). How fault is assigned in any particular crash depends on its facts, but riders are often blamed first. How a rider’s case is rebuilt after that kind of crash is covered on our motorcycle accident page.

“Everyone has two years to file”

The belief: the deadline is two years no matter who caused the crash.

The record: the two-year period is real, but it only covers suits against private parties such as the other motorist (CCP §335.1). Bring a public body into it, whether the City of La Puente over a dead traffic light or the County over an Industry Station cruiser, and a written claim is due in six months (Gov. Code §911.2). A late claim can be rejected outright.

After dark in La Puente

Twelve injury crashes occurred between 9 at night and 3 in the morning in 2023, a 34th-place ranking that, like the hit-and-run figure, is worse than the city’s overall position (OTS). Alcohol was involved for 8 victims (70th). Enforcement numbers were low as well: OTS shows 18 DUI arrests in La Puente for the year, a 17th-place figure on a scale where first place is the fewest.

Much of the city’s commerce sits in aging strip-mall corridors built in the 1950s (Wikipedia). After closing time, the security cameras in those centers may be the only witnesses to a crash in the lot or on the street in front of it, and their footage is often kept only a short time.

Who you will deal with

• Report: Industry Station deputies cover La Puente streets. Collisions on a nearby freeway produce a CHP report instead.
• Hospital: east of the city, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center carries a Level II trauma designation from the state (EMSA).
• Court: before filing, we run the crash address through the court’s locator; injury cases belong in the judicial district where the crash happened (LASC General Order).

Call Jacob in La Puente

The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (Call Jacob) represents people hurt in La Puente and the neighborhoods around it, including Bassett and West Puente Valley. Our first week on a La Puente matter goes to the Industry Station report, letters to the strip-mall centers whose cameras face the street, and a check of whether the city or the County maintains the pavement where the crash happened.

Cases we take on in La Puente include:

• car accident cases, including hit-and-runs
• injuries to older pedestrians
• motorcycle crashes at stop-sign intersections
• bicycle and truck collisions
• slip-and-fall injuries and dog bites
• wrongful death

There is no charge for the first meeting. Our fee is earned only if we win. Telephone (888) 952-2952. Typing it out instead? The case evaluator is online. We will come to your home in La Puente, or to Pomona Valley Hospital, if travel is hard.

Ten years of La Puente records can show a trend, not the facts of your case; this page is not legal advice.

Sources

1. La Puente — Wikipedia
2. V2025 estimates — Census Bureau
3. La Puente 2023 — OTS
4. MTIC safety assessment — South Pasadena
5. CACI 405 — Justia
6. Vehicle Code §21802 — Legislature
7. Amar and Evanwood crash — ABC7
8. CCP §335.1 — Legislature
9. Gov. Code §911.2 — Legislature
10. Trauma centers 2025 — EMSA
11. 2024-GEN-003-00 — LASC