Six people were injured when the driver of a stolen minivan crashed while fleeing from police on Monday night, a San Francisco Police Department spokesperson says.
According to SFPD spokesperson Officer Albie Esparza, at about 10:18 p.m. last night, SFPD officers attempted to pull over the driver of a silver minivan (the remains of which you can see in the photo above) for "a traffic infraction violation" at the intersection of Larkin and Post Streets.
Instead of pulling over, the driver, a 26-year-old man who has yet to be identified, fled. Esparza says that he ran a red light, then slammed into a taxi at Post and Jones Streets.
Though Esparza says that no SFPD officers were immediately pursuing the minivan driver, “he came straight through the light, didn't make an attempt to brake,” a witness to the crash told KTVU.
"The impact of the collision sent the vehicles into the sidewalk," Esparza says, striking a pedestrian and, ABC7 reports, a cyclist.
“He just hit the taxi full force and did a full 360 and as he did he collected the pedestrians and the traffic light," KTVU's witness says.
Even then, the driver of the stolen minivan didn't give up, boarding a westbound 38 Geary bus, Esparza says. That's where police caught up with the suspect. who is now in custody.
All in all, six people ended up at San Francisco General Hospital as a result of the crash: The taxi driver, the cab's passenger, the driver of the minivan, and the 38-year-old female passenger of the minivan, who was trapped in the crash. They were all treated for injuries that aren't considering life-threatening, Esparza says.
The pedestrian struck in the collision, a 60-year-old man, also suffered non-life threatening injuries. The 29-year-old male cyclist, who was also struck, remains hospitalized with a life-threatening head injury as of Tuesday morning.
"His bike is over there mangled," witness Andrew Small told ABC7, "so we can imagine" the severity of the cyclist's injuries.
"They were aggressively trying to resuscitate him," Small says.
Charges for the suspect are still pending at publication time, but Esparza says that the driver will likely face the music for the hit-and-run, as well as other offenses.
Update 2:23 p.m.: Esparza has identified the driver of the stolen minivan as Anthony Wisner, no known address. He says Wisner has been charged with driving a stolen vehicle, running a red light, speeding, six counts of felony hit and run, driving with a suspended license, a pedestrian right-of-way violation, reckless driving, and altering/forging license plates. The female passenger who accompanied Wisner in the minivan "is not charged with any crime as she is cooperating with investigators."
According to Esparza, as of this afternoon, the cyclist Wisner allegedly struck remains hospitalized with life threatening injuries.
