Arrest made in fatal San Francisco SoMa hit-and-run crash involving pedestrian
SFPD arrest driver in a deadly hit-and-run, marking city’s 8th pedestrian death
San Francisco Police arrested a driver in Mondays deadly hit-and-run on Mission Street near South Van Ness. It marks the city’s eighth pedestrian death this year.
SAN FRANCISCO - Update: The victim killed in the hit-and-run crash was identified on Wednesday by someone who works at a San Francisco social services' agency for the aging LGBTQ+ community and those with disabilities.
The suspect who allegedly fled from a hit-and-run crash that killed a pedestrian in San Francisco on Monday afternoon has been arrested, officials say.
On Wednesday, the victim killed was identified as a 74-year-old transgender woman, according to someone who knew her.
Driver arrested
30-year-old Valentino Cash Amil, of San Francisco, was taken into custody after police said their officers coordinated with the police department's Real Time Investigation Center (RTIC), which has access to high-tech surveillance tools.
Police said their investigation led them to Amil's vehicle traveling on the freeway after the crash on Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue at around 3:20 p.m.
The police RTIC has access to drones, automated license-plate readers (ALPR) and other technology to address crime. Police said they used cameras and ALPRs to track down Amil's vehicle.
Police said the suspect's vehicle exited the freeway and was then stopped by police, with assistance from the SF sheriff's department, in the area of Potrero Avenue and 18th Street. That's where police said Amil was detained without further incident.
The adult pedestrian who was killed has not been identified by the medical examiner. They said they would have that information once their next of kin has been notified.
Derrick Guerra, a case manager at the Shanti Project, which combats isolation among the aging LGBTQ+ population, said the victim was 74-year-old Dannielle Spillman. Spillman was one of Guerra's clients for almost a year. He said she was not homeless and is often misgendered. Guerra's main job was to advocate for his client, a transgender woman, who he said loved playing guitar and talking about music with him.
"I'm a huge music lover," said Guerra. "She had been in San Francisco for a long time, over 20 years. She was telling me recently she was nearly assaulted and that a man had recently tried to hit her."
Guerra said that Spillman recently told him that it was safer as a trans woman in San Francisco in the '90s than it is now. Guerra said he felt the crash was deliberate based on video he had seen of the crash that was posted online. Guerra said a vigil is in the works for the victim.
Witness Richard Conway Jr. described what he saw moments after the crash. This witness misgenders Spillman in his account of what happened.
"I kind of came up this way to see if I can render aide and the gentleman was already deceased," he said. "He was laying on his back with his feet out, and he had no socks on. He had a pair black Velcro-closing sneakers like you'd buy at Walmart, and just the impression I got he's probably a homeless gentleman."
This crash marks the 8th traffic-related pedestrian death in San Francisco for 2026.
High-injury intersection
Dig deeper:
The intersection where the hit-and-run occurred is on the 2024 Vision Zero High Injury Network map. The map shows data compiled by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where severe and fatal injury information from police and medical officials is used to identify street segments in San Francisco that are prone to a high number of fatalities and severe injuries.
The San Francisco Police Department on Tuesday released a video on social media saying they are "out in force" along the city's high-injury network to conduct high-visibility traffic stops.
Pedestrian killed in San Francisco hit-and-run crash
The San Francisco Police Department says a pedestrian was killed on Monday at the intersection of Mission and South Van Ness streets. The driver apparently fled the scene.
The pedestrian advocacy group Walk San Francisco said almost all traffic deaths so far this year have been pedestrians.
Showing compassion for all of this year's victims and their loved ones, Walk SF executive director Jodie Medeiros said, "We all deserve to be able to get around safely in our city."
"According to the City’s traffic fatality tracker, eight of the nine people killed in traffic crashes this year were pedestrians; no motorists have died in traffic crashes," Walk SF's statement read. "The City’s traffic fatality tracker can be viewed here, note that information is not up-to-the-minute."
The group said the intersection of Mission and South Van Ness is wide and sprawling. Both streets are around 125 feet wide with seven travel lanes. They added that the intersection is in the 13% of streets that make up 74% of injuries or deaths.
"This is the second traffic fatality on Mission Street and the second traffic fatality on South Van Ness Avenue this year," Walk SF's statement read.
Just last month, the group said Mayor Daniel Lurie's office launched a Safe Streets Task Force that is focused on improving traffic safety.
Some of the solutions being discussed and implemented include pedestrian bulb-outs, turn calming, pedestrian safety islands (elevated curbs), and hardened daylighting, which creates better sight lines between people driving and people walking along crosswalks.
But these solutions need the help of city politicians if they are to be fully implemented.
"Streets can be designed and enforced to make us dramatically safer," said Medeiros. "There are many proven solutions to reduce the chance of a crash and save lives. It’s a matter of bringing more solutions to many more places."
Neighbors describe the area as busy and unpredictable.
Nick McKeon, who lives nearby, said the crash highlights ongoing safety concerns.
"It's just sad, I feel like these instances could not be happening if people just drove a little safer," he said. "This is obviously a super busy road, both directions, and people do go quite fast. The lights take a long time right here, so there's often jaywalking, but we've had a lot of people existing out here looking for money or kind of camped out in the streets as well."
Flock cameras, police technology and privacy
License plate reader technology has recently come under fire. A number of Bay Area cities has dumped the technology over privacy concerns, namely the possibility of data being shared with federal agencies, something Flock – the ALPR San Francisco contracted with under Mayor London Breed in 2024 – has denied. San Francisco has some 400 Flock cameras under its initial contract.
Privacy advocates, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU of Northern California, have spoken out about the use of surveillance technology, saying residents' rights are threatened and have warned of police overreach.
However, law enforcement officials, including the sheriff's office, have been looking to increase their use of technology.
Walk SF even cites data from speed cameras (not to be confused with Flock cameras). They added that speed cameras at Bryant and 3rd streets led to more citations than any other camera in the city from October to December 2025 when making their point about how fast vehicles drive through the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood.