SFPD chasing a driver in the Tenderloin: pic.twitter.com/NnUM7MGjNE
— Patrick Traughber (@ptraughber) April 11, 2015
A San Francisco woman is dead, another person is injured, and three allegedly armed and dangerous robbers remain on the loose after a crazy police chase across SF Friday night.
According to San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Officer Grace Gatpandan, "over the last three days, there have been a series of armed robberies that have occurred in various parts of San Francisco," committed by "three dark-complected males...using a stolen newer model black Toyota Corolla" and armed with handguns.
On Friday night, three more armed robberies by the same suspects want down, the last one at 9:55 p.m. at Clay and Larkin Streets.
That's when, Gatpandan says, a patrol officer spotted the suspects as they drove the black Corolla north on Leavenworth Street near Pine Street.
"A patrol sergeant immediately took control and monitored the situation, instructing three units to support the officer for a high risk felony vehicle stop," Gatpandan says.
Though officers tried to pull the guys over at California Street and Mason Street, "the suspect vehicle took off and the pursuit began," Gatpandan says.
Three blocks into the chase, the suspects struck a woman identified by the Chron as 42-year-old San Francisco resident Bridget Klecker as she was in the crosswalk at California Street and Kearny Street. Though police stopped to render aid to Klecker, she died from her injuries at San Francisco General Hospital.
“I need an ambulance Code 3. The suspect vehicle hit this person, and she went flying,” the Chron quotes an officer as reporting.
The suspects continued to flee from the cops, hitting a second pedestrian at Post and Powell Streets. Still more cops stopped to care for that victim, who was also transported to SF General, and is expected to survive.
According to ABC7, "Cable car riders say the vehicle was airborne at times and it appeared that the windshield had been badly damaged."
"At one point, the chase hit speeds of 80 miles an hour," KTVU reports.
As the pursuit continued, the suspects headed toward 8th and Harrison Streets, where they struck another vehicle (no one was injured). Police lost track of the suspects as they continued through SoMa, Gatpandan says, and KTVU reports that "as of 10:30 p.m., police had lost the car at the Sterling Street on-ramp onto the Bay Bridge."
Police eventually found the stolen car on Treasure Island, but the suspects were gone without a trace, Gatpandan says.
Police also recovered two guns that they say the suspects tossed from the car at California and Stockton.
As always, anyone with information on these crimes is urged to call SFPD's Anonymous Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or to text a tip to Tip411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message.