August 29, 2006
Driver Hitting Pedestrians
Up to eleven people have been seriously injured this afternoon by a man driving around town, deliberately running over pedestrians. At least one person is dead. Among other things: this is not going to help our stats for this year's Walk SF numbers at all.
The police caught a driver in a black Honda SUV in Laurel Heights, at Laurel and California Streets, where he'd hit two people (one who died). A child was also struck and suffered head injuries on Mayfair (behind Laurel Village). Two people were hit at Bush and Pierce, one person at Bush and Buchanan, one person on Fillmore and California, two at Steiner and Sutter, two at Pine and Divisadero, and two at Bush and Divisadero.
The man in the black Honda told the police he was very angry with his family, and after hitting people in the city, was planning to drive to Fremont to kill them. Witnesses said the driver had "a wild look" in his eyes.
Update: The number of injured people is up to 13 now; the driver was taken into custody at that Walgreen's on Bush and Fillmore Spruce and California; he was driving in reverse down Bush Street; and one firefighter described it as "Death Race 2000." The driver may have hit a man in Fremont earlier today, and Gavin Newsom is coordinating the response teams.
Second update: They have a name for the driver: Ohmeed Popal, who lives in Ceres (which is in Stanislaus County) and in Fremont. Only person who died was the man in Fremont. Injured count is up to 14. Gavin Newsom is on his way to the hospital (SF General).
Next update: (This one's from the Merc News.) Popal is described as "relatively young," and "clean-cut, like he worked in the financial district." Patients are trickling in from all over the city. The current stats about the victims are: 3 with life-threatening injuries, 1 is in critical condition. At SF General, the victims are in the age range of 18-84, 3 are men and 4 are women. At St. Francis, 4 victims, 3 men and 1 woman, all between 20-30. The fourth guy checked himself in. At Cal Pacific, two elderly males.
The suspect's family has been interviewed by the Fremont police -- and check out this quote from a victim leaving SF General. "A car came after me, I'm lucky to be alive. Life is good."
And your last update of the day: The Merc News is reporting that Popal's family thinks he might have snapped from the stress of his wedding. Popal grew up in America, but returned to Afghanistan for an arranged marriage last month. His wife is still there, waiting for her visa. Family members said that Popal had been reporting "strange dreams" after he got back to the U.S. They also said that Popal's family owned a black SUV, but usually a woman was driving it. The Chron reports much of the same, but also reports that others are saying Popal had had mental problems for some time.
Pictures from the scene here, here, and here. Map of the incidents here.
|
Holy Crap! I will not be jaywalking any more at all. Even looking both ways wouldn't help me with that guy around.
I know!!! Something about this story really freaks me out. I'm totally going to be dashing across crosswalks and checking my escape routes on the sidewalks as I head home today.
I hope the city gets the opportunity to collectively throttle this @sshole.
If somebody else volunteers to drive over him, I'll volunteer to back up over him very slowly.
Wire reports indicate that this guy had already killed someone in Fremont on his way here.
This kind of horror is all too common from motorists.
BTW, in San Francisco, if you call 911 to report reckless driving, they will tell you to call back on the non-emergency number and wait on hold.
This is fucked up!
Those are all areas where I frequently walk for exercise. I'm stunned.
I was just driving there this morning. I can't believe this.
Sarah Tucker was hit and killed by a black CRV driver... just a thought.
Judging from the person's name Omeed Popal, he is of Afghani descent FWIW.
I meant the color of the car, not the race of the driver.
If you search for "Omeed Popal" you can find his name listed as defendant in Stanislaus County for a traffic infraction:
http://www.stanct.org/case_index/2005/P/PO.html
This makes me feel sick. Last week the crazy f***er killing people at Fort Funston and now this. What is up with the random violence?
Mike brings up a good point about the recent odd, random violence.
Don't mean to make anybody even more paranoid, but I did a daily photo documentary of a year in San Francisco's history, and it happened to be during 2001. The two weeks before 9/11, everywhere I went, there were absolutely crazy, violent situations in public that I stumbled across and photographed, and this casual violence was never replicated during the rest of the year. It's almost like the schizophrenics were sensing the ugliness in the air and then acting it out as public spectacle.
Do keep your eyes open.
1. You say he was from Ceres. Maybe he's just celebrating because Ceres was promoted from asteroid to dwarf planet.
2. You've read the news, now play the game:
http://www.2flashgames.com/f/f-140.htm
Why, oh why Ohmeed? Why Pacific and Laurel Heights and the Tenderloin? Why not wait a bit longer in the afternoon until the Board of Supervisors meeting is over? Near where Chris Daly comes outside of the building.
I am not in the City (on the Peninsula) My adult son does and rides a bike all over so when I saw the mangled bike. I was glued to the TV news and hunting down any way to know who the victims were. So frustrating. Does any one know what the procedure of contacting family is? If dead the do. If broken limb no? It was so frustrating. I wanted to go and park myself in front of Gen Hosp until someone would help. I didn't tried- to believe all was well.