Grace Edwards, 19, died days after she was hit in a Bellflower Boulevard parking lot.
LONG BEACH, Calif. — A Long Beach man has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges filed six months after a 19-year-old nursing student was struck and killed in a shopping center parking lot, authorities said.
Deasean Alphonzia Edwards, 40, is charged in the death of Grace Edwards, a Long Beach resident who police said was hit Nov. 2 while walking through a parking lot in the 2200 block of Bellflower Boulevard. Police said distracted driving is believed to have contributed to the crash, though investigators have not publicly detailed the alleged distraction.
The collision happened about 3:55 p.m. in a busy East Long Beach shopping area near Stearns Street, where stores include Trader Joe’s and Five Below. Grace Edwards was walking with her mother when a 2015 Lexus IS250 exited a parking stall and struck her, police said. Officers arrived and found her lying in the lot 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 later notified that she died Nov. 5. Police identified her publicly as the decedent in a Nov. 11 statement.
The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators after the crash, police said. The case then moved through a months-long review by collision detectives. Local court coverage reported that police sought an arrest warrant in March. Detectives arrested Edwards in Long Beach on May 5, and he was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. Police initially listed bail at $75,000. Prosecutors later filed two counts, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, and a judge ordered him held on $30,000 bail after his first court appearance.
Edwards, whose first name has appeared in some police-related reports as Desean, has no apparent relation to Grace Edwards. He appeared Wednesday in Long Beach Superior Court and pleaded not guilty, according to local court reporting. Prosecutors said a conviction could carry up to six years in state prison. His next court date was reported for May 13. Court records and police statements did not immediately explain what evidence led prosecutors to file charges after the long investigation, and officials have not released a full crash reconstruction report.
The police account leaves several key points unresolved. Authorities have not said whether cellphone use, in-vehicle technology, a store errand, passenger activity or another distraction is under review. They also have not said how fast the Lexus was moving, whether backup cameras or warning systems were operating, or whether surveillance video from nearby businesses captured the crash. The Long Beach Police Department has described its public information as preliminary and separate from a formal investigative report. Collision detectives have continued to review the case and have kept the focus on evidence from the scene, the vehicle and witness accounts.
Grace Edwards’ death brought public attention to a kind of crash that can unfold at low speed but still cause fatal injuries. The parking lot sits in a commercial corridor used by drivers, shoppers and pedestrians moving between storefronts and parked cars. Police said the Lexus was leaving a stall when it struck her. The case also came during a period of concern over traffic deaths in Long Beach. 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.
Friends and relatives described Grace Edwards as a nursing student who cared deeply for children, family and her church community. A fundraiser organized for her family said she was a daughter, sister, granddaughter and friend who had helped care for children in her church and neighborhood. Haley and Scott Sousa, friends of the family, wrote that Grace was “a vibrant and carefree 19-year-old girl” and “a steady example of what it means to love and serve others.” The fundraiser named Tiffany Edwards as the beneficiary and had drawn hundreds of donations by this week.
Family friends also said Grace Edwards became an organ donor after a discussion with her parents shortly before the crash. On Nov. 9, they said, hospital staff, family and friends took part in an Honor Walk before she was taken to an operating room. The fundraiser said her heart was donated to an 8-year-old child. Long Beach Post photos this week showed a small memorial maintained in the parking lot near Bellflower Boulevard and Stearns Street. The memorial marked the place where the criminal case, the family’s grief and the broader traffic safety questions now meet.
The case now moves through Long Beach Superior Court while prosecutors pursue the manslaughter charges and defense proceedings continue. As of May 8, Edwards had pleaded not guilty, bail had been set at $30,000 and the next reported hearing was scheduled for May 13.
Author note: Last updated May 8, 2026.