Monterey Park Personal Injury Attorney

Of the 21 people struck while walking in Monterey Park during 2023, 7 were 65 or older. Just six peer cities fared worse for older walkers (OTS). For the family of an older pedestrian struck near Garfield and Garvey, the first questions a Monterey Park personal injury attorney asks are about the corner, the time and who has video. The questions below are the ones those families, and drivers hurt on Atlantic Boulevard or the freeways, tend to ask. Choose one to jump to its answer:

• Why are older pedestrians at such risk here?
• Who investigates a crash on Garvey or Atlantic?
• The car that hit me kept going. Now what?
• Where does a seriously injured person go?
• Why does the DUI arrest count matter?
• How much time is there, and which court?

OTS rankings, 2023

Rank 1 is the worst record in the group, except for DUI arrests, where 1 means the fewest arrests for a city’s size (OTS). Monterey Park’s population is 57,457 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate (Census), so seven older walkers is a large number for a city this size.

Why are older pedestrians at such risk here?

One in three of the city’s injured pedestrians that year was a senior. No single street accounts for that, but walking in Monterey Park concentrates in a few places. The downtown business district grew up around the corner of Garfield Avenue and Garvey Avenue, an old route that follows the Monterey Pass trail, and Atlantic Boulevard carries a second shopping corridor past Atlantic Times Square (Wikipedia). Grandparents walking to a bakery, a pharmacy or the Spirit bus share those crosswalks with drivers pulling out of crowded lots.

When the person hurt is retired, a Monterey Park pedestrian accident lawyer builds the claim differently. There is usually no paycheck to replace. Its value rests on medical bills, a caregiver’s wages or rides to each appointment, and the lost enjoyment of daily life, which California treats as part of pain and suffering. An insurance adjuster who sees an 80-year-old claimant sometimes assumes the case is small; a daughter’s notes on how her father lived before the crash, and how he lives now, are often the strongest answer.

Tip: Write down the exact corner on Garvey or Garfield, the time and the walk signal, and ask the bakery, bank or restaurant facing it to keep that afternoon’s video. Shopkeepers who face the crosswalk are worth asking what they saw.

Shared fault: Older pedestrians who step off the curb a little early do not lose their claims. California’s comparative fault rule trims a recovery only by the share of blame a jury assigns to the person walking (CACI 405).

Who investigates a crash on Garvey or Atlantic?

Inside the city limits

Monterey Park officers do. The city keeps its own police and fire departments rather than contracting with the county (Wikipedia), so a collision on Atlantic, Garfield, Garvey or a residential street in Monterey Highlands is investigated by city officers.

The three freeways

The exception is the freeway system. A wreck on the San Bernardino Freeway, on the Pomona Freeway along the south edge of town or on the Long Beach Freeway to the west is a Highway Patrol case, ramps included, and that division of labor is the reason the state leaves freeway collisions out of its city tables.

What to do with the traffic collision report once you have it:

1. Read the diagram and the narrative for mistakes about direction, lane and signal phase.
2. Check that every bystander who gave you a name at the corner appears in the report.
3. Send the report number to us, and we request the photographs and supplemental notes that the basic copy omits.

The car that hit me kept going. Now what?

By the numbers: Drivers fled from 24 injury or fatal collisions in Monterey Park in 2023, a record worse than that of 79 of the 102 other cities in its group.

Call the police promptly even without a plate number; insurers look for a prompt police report before they honor an uninsured motorist claim. That coverage, bought on your own auto policy, generally protects you and members of your household when you are hit on foot as well as in a car. For many hit-and-run victims on Garvey or Atlantic, uninsured motorist coverage is the policy that ends up paying.

Finding the driver is still worth the effort, and it is the first task a Monterey Park hit-and-run lawyer takes on. A fleeing car passes dozens of storefront cameras in the Garfield and Garvey district and doorbell cameras on the side streets toward the Monterey Hills, and every one of those systems records over itself on a schedule. Our letters asking those owners to save footage go out in the first week.

Where does a seriously injured person go?

Two Monterey Park hospitals sit inside the city: Garfield Medical Center, whose 819 workers make it the top local employer, and Monterey Park Hospital (Wikipedia). Patients with the gravest injuries go farther, to Los Angeles General Medical Center, the former LAC+USC, which the state designates Level I for adults and Level II for children (EMSA).

Watch out: An injured grandparent might be seen at Garfield, transferred to L.A. General and then followed by a family doctor on Atlantic. Each stop holds part of the medical story, and a missing month of treatment is the first gap an insurer points to, so we collect every chart.

Why does the DUI arrest count matter?

Because a low arrest count does not mean few impaired drivers. Officers booked 37 drivers for DUI in 2023, a total so low for the city’s size that only 14 peer cities arrested fewer, yet 22 people were hurt or killed in crashes involving alcohol. Speed and darkness add to the picture: 40 injury crashes involved unsafe speed (26th of 103) and 26 happened between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. (31st).

In practical terms, the driver who hit you late at night on Atlantic Boulevard might have been drinking without ever being tested. Bar and restaurant receipts, the time the driver left a gathering, and what witnesses smelled or saw are how that is proven later. For speeding, the vehicle’s event data recorder and nearby video tell the story better than any estimate.

How much time is there, and which court?

California’s statute of limitations and its public-claim rules set three different clocks for a Monterey Park case:

• Six months if a public body is involved, such as the City of Monterey Park for a broken signal or a Montebello Bus Lines or Metro bus in the collision; a written claim must reach that agency in time (Gov. Code §911.2)
• Two years if a private motorist on Garvey or Atlantic caused your injuries and the claim does not settle (CCP §335.1)
• Children, and claims for vehicle damage only, follow different timelines

Since May 2024, the Los Angeles Superior Court has generally steered a fresh injury complaint to the judicial district covering the crash site, so a Monterey Park case does not go to Stanley Mosk downtown by default (LASC General Order). For a Monterey Park crash, a Los Angeles County personal injury attorney should look up the district for that exact address with the court’s filing-location tool, and we do so before anything is filed.

Four more answers

Do city officers handle crashes on the 710?

No. Those reports are written by the CHP.

My mother was hit near a bus stop on Garvey. Is the bus agency responsible?

Only if a bus, or something the agency controls, helped cause the crash. Otherwise the claim is against the driver who struck her. With a Metro or Montebello bus in the picture, add the six-month government claim to the calendar.

I was walking to the Cal State LA station from Monterey Park. Where would my case be heard?

The address of the crash decides the judicial district, not where you live or study. We check it for each case.

My father was checked at Garfield and sent home. Should he see another doctor?

Yes, if new pain, confusion or trouble walking shows up in the following days. Those follow-up visits keep his medical record continuous, which matters when an adjuster later reviews the file.

Our work for Monterey Park families

Who we represent

We represent Monterey Park residents, shoppers in the Garfield and Garvey district, and East Los Angeles College and Cal State LA students who are injured on city streets or on the I-10, SR-60 and I-710 corridors. When a senior is struck in a Monterey Park crosswalk, our first steps are to obtain the police report and the Garfield Medical Center or L.A. General chart and to put the businesses facing that corner on notice to keep their video.

Types of injury claims

Given the city’s numbers, pedestrian accidents and hit-and-run claims come first in the matters we handle here, along with car crashes and other auto accident claims in Monterey Park, motorcycle and bicycle crashes, injuries to passengers on Metro, Montebello and Spirit buses (bus accident claims), truck collisions on the Long Beach Freeway, falls in shopping centers, and wrongful death cases for families who have lost a parent.

Starting a claim

The first conversation is a free consultation, and a Monterey Park car accident attorney from our firm will come to your parent’s home or hospital room for it. We are paid a percentage only if money is recovered for you; if nothing is recovered, you owe us nothing. Families looking for an injury lawyer near Garfield and Garvey can start with a call to (888) 952-2952. Some prefer to type the details into our intake form; a Spanish version of the site is also available.

Nothing here is legal advice for a specific crash on Garvey, Garfield or Atlantic.

Sources

1. Census, Vintage 2025 — U.S. Census Bureau
2. OTS ranks for Monterey Park seniors on foot, fleeing drivers and DUI arrests — California Office of Traffic Safety
3. Garfield and Garvey district, Atlantic Times Square, freeways and hospitals — Wikipedia
4. Statewide trauma designations, including the former LAC+USC — California EMSA
5. Reassignment order (PDF) — LASC
6. Gov. Code §911.2 and claims involving Montebello Bus Lines, Metro or the city — California Legislature
7. CCP §335.1 as applied to a private motorist on Atlantic Boulevard — California Legislature
8. CACI 405 and the senior who stepped off the curb early — Justia