A female driver in an allegedly stolen car faces 24 charges including driving while intoxicated and driving on a suspended license following a Wednesday rampage that left several people hospitalized.
What’s unusual about the image above that is the silver Kia in the top center is driving on the sidewalk. What you don’t see is that the Kia has already hit one pedestrian, has more than a dozen police pursuing it on foot, and is about to smash into at least six other parked vehicles before the driver is eventually stopped. Much of this saga is captured in the SFPD video below, and the Chronicle reports the suspect has been charged with more than 20 counts, including driving a stolen vehicle, under the influence, and with a suspended license, in addition to a litany of pedestrian and vehicle collisions.
SFPD had identified the suspect as Cherry Neal, a 25-year-old San Francisco woman who was hospitalized briefly after the rampage. According to KRON 4, she’s being held at county jail on $125,000 bail.
The mayhem started Wednesday at 2 p.m., when the silver Kia in question was idling at Leavenworth and Eddy streets, and a police license plate check showed the vehicle had been reported stolen. As you see in the video above, when police attempt to pull the vehicle over, the driver plows straight onto the sidewalk, hitting a pedestrian and trapping him in the scaffolding. A swarm of officers attempts to stop the vehicle on foot, but the drivers is undeterred, continuing to smash into parked cars while evading police.
The video does not capture the second chapter of this chase, where the driver allegedly hits another pedestrian at Eddy and Taylor streets, two more cars at Fifth and Market, yet another car on Clara Street (while driving the wrong way!), and ultimately, one final vehicle on Sixth Street before police arrest the driver.
It remains unclear what substance or substances Neal was under the influence of at the time of her arrest. But feel free to guess!
Fortunately, according to the Chronicle, only one of the six victims hit required hospitalization, but that person’s injuries are described as “life-threatening.” KRON 4 has a complete list of all two dozen charges that Neal is facing.
Related: Pedestrian Struck And Gravely Injured At Geary And Laguna [SFist]