A 55-year-old Dutch man who was visiting San Francisco earlier this month has died from injuries he sustained after being struck by a scooter on Market Street.
The incident happened on July 8 on a Saturday morning just before 11 a.m.. 55-year-old Frans Alst, a pedestrian and a tourist from the Netherlands, was reportedly struck and injured by a scooter on Market Street between Fourth and Fifth streets. His injuries were reported by the Chronicle at the time to be life-threatening.
Police did not specify what type of scooter was involved — the moped type, or the stand-up type — or whether it was privately owned or one of those that are rentable around the city.
As Sietze Vermeulen, head of communications and public diplomacy for San Francisco’s Consulate General of the Netherlands, announced Tuesday, Alst died from his injuries on an unspecified date. The Chronicle says that the date of death is unclear, however a photo caption suggests he may have been declared dead today.
Patricia Lee, owner of Union Square Flowers, which is located at Market and Fourth streets, told the Chronicle that Mr. Alst's family visited San Francisco this week and purchased flowers that they then placed at the crash site, along with an orange ribbon symbolizing the Netherlands.
The scooter rider, who has not been publicly identified, reportedly stayed at the scene and cooperated with police.
Scooter injuries and deaths have not been infrequent on San Francisco streets since various types of mobility devices have been permitted here in the last decade. A woman on a scooter was killed in a hit-and-run in the Tenderloin in May 2022. And an elderly woman was seriously injured in a collision with someone on an e-scooter on the Embarcadero in January 2020.
Any witnesses to the July 8 crash are asked to contact the San Francisco Police Department at 415-575-4444.
Photo: Google Street View