SFPD investigating to see if Tesla in fatal pedestrian crash was operating in autonomous mode
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KTVU) - A 21-year-old woman was arrested for a deadly crash in San Francisco's Tenderloin District on Sunday.
The driver allegedly hit and killed a pedestrian and seriously injured his wife.
The crash happened around 2:08 p.m. at the intersection of Taylor and O'Farrell Streets.
The victims were in a crosswalk when they were struck by the driver of a black Tesla who blew through a red light, collided with a Mini Cooper and fishtailed out of control.
The driver, who's been identified as Kelsey Mariah Cambridge of Vallejo, was driving a Tesla rented through the peer-to-peer car rental service getaround, according to San Francisco police.
Cambridge was speeding north on Taylor when she ran a red light at O' Farrell and was broadsided by the Mini Cooper that had the right of way.
The Tesla slammed into the couple in the crosswalk, killing 39-year-old Benjamin Dean of Clovis.
His wife was taken to San Francisco General Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Cambridge was arrested on one count of vehicular manslaughter and one count of running a red light, the San Francisco Police Department said in a statement. Both offenses are misdemeanors. Cambridge has not been booked into the jail.
Officers are investigating whether the Tesla was operating in self-driving mode at the time of the crash.
Social media posts show the couple at the Museum of Ice Cream right before the crash happened.
The advocacy group Walk San Francisco is calling on the city to declare a state of emergency for traffic safety. This is the second fatal pedestrian accident in less than a week in the neighborhood.
According to Walk San Francisco, the groups are demanding increased enforcement of traffic citations by police, speed safety cameras, lower speed limits and other actions.
"San Francisco must become a city where dangerous driving is simply not tolerated, on any street, at any time," Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco said. "This is possible, but the City must act quickly and aggressively to move this direction."
“This is a crisis. People are dying on our streets. We need proactive and immediate traffic safety changes throughout the Tenderloin to save lives now,” said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney whose district includes the Tenderloin. “These are neighborhood streets. We aren’t a freeway."
Haney added in the Walk SF statement his suggestion that streets in the area should be two-way, with narrow lanes and should include pedestrian scrambles and red-light cameras to keep speeds low.
The advocacy group, along with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Supervisor Haney, are planning a rally on the steps of City Hall, Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Haney spoke to KTVU on Monday and said the intersection is one of the more deadly in the neighborhood.
“You see people running right through the red lights. You see people going 40-50 miles per hour. That’s not the right thing to be happening on a pedestrian heavy street,” Haney said.