Huntington Beach motorcycle officer injured in Long Beach crash remains hospitalized

A Huntington Beach police officer seriously hurt in a crash in Long Beach earlier this month remained hospitalized Wednesday, officials said.

The collision happened Dec. 7 at about 2:30 p.m., Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Allison Gallagher said in a statement. The officer was on his department motorcycle and headed south on Bellflower Boulevard when a Toyota Scion attempted to make a U-turn in front of him near Asherton Street.

Officer Jeremy Roberts was on his way to work that afternoon. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, he managed to hand his phone to a bystander and asked them to call his wife, Katie Roberts, she wrote in an emailed statement to the Daily Pilot Wednesday. She found his mangled motorcycle at the crash site, arriving just moments after paramedics had taken him to a hospital.

“I had to collect myself before we got into the ER because I wasn’t sure what I was going to see when I walked in,” Katie Roberts said. “But I knew I needed to hold it together for Jeremy’s sake.”

She said medical staff raced frantically around her husband as he was lying in a bed with a brace around his neck and wires connecting him to a variety of monitoring equipment. But he was conscious and appeared to recognize her.

“I breathed a small sigh of relief when they told me the CT scan showed no brain damage — and then an even bigger sigh when they had him wiggle his toes and I knew he wasn’t paralyzed,” Katie Roberts said.

He wound up suffering a cervical spine fracture, crushed and fractured vertebrae, a cracked sternum, a broken collarbone and wrist fractures. Despite his ordeal, the injured officer has every intention of returning to duty, Katie Roberts said.

“I knew this was going to be a long road to recovery but was so grateful he was alive to hold our kids again one day,” Katie Roberts said.

Huntington Beach Police Officer Jeremy Roberts poses for a photo with his wife, Katie Roberts, and their three children.

(Courtesy of Katie Roberts)

She said her husband will need to attend physical and occupational therapy three to four times a week and has his next surgery scheduled for March. She will have to step down as an instructor for several classes she had been teaching in order to become his primary caregiver.

A GoFundMe campaign created to support their family during his recovery had surpassed its goal of $10,000, with 199 donors contributing over $17,200 as of 2:45 p.m. Wednesday.

“We are extremely grateful and humbled by the amount of support that we have received during this time,” Katie Roberts said.

She also thanked the staff at St. Mary’s Hospital who cared for her husband, and members of the Huntington Beach and Long Beach Police Departments who visited both of them over the past few weeks to offer emotional support.

Roberts had been a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department before joining the Huntington Beach Police department about seven years ago. He served as a patrol officer and a school resource officer before joining the motorcycle unit.

The driver of the Toyota cooperated with investigators and did not show signs of intoxication the day of the crash, Gallagher said. Neither speed nor distracted driving appeared to have been factors in the collision.

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