Victim's family urges deadly SF hit-and-run driver to come forward

SAN FRANCISCO - The family of a man killed in a hit-and-run in San Francisco is sending out an urgent plea.

They are asking the driver who struck down their loved one to turn themselves in.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare — losing a child, a nightmare that is now a reality for David Bridges Sr.

"That was my only baby," Bridges Sr. told KTVU. "Don’t know what to do about it."

On Feb. 8 around 5 a.m., San Francisco police were responding to a hit-and-run at Sixth and Bryant Streets in the South of Market neighborhood.

"My future’s gone. Somebody killed my future," Bridges Sr. said his son and namesake, 31-year-old David Bridges Jr. of Antioch was left for dead in the street. 

"It sucks," Shontoya Norbert remembers her cousin as a technology genius, with a love of rap music, whose time was cut short.

"It makes you realize your days are not promised," Norbert told KTVU. "You never know what could happen and how fast it could change."

Data from the City and County of San Francisco reveals that from 2014 through 2023, 165 pedestrians lost their lives.

According to Walk SF, 2 more have died this year, including Bridges Jr.

"When you’re driving vehicles, they are deadly, they are dangerous, and if you don’t pay attention to what you’re doing, you could hurt and kill somebody," Norbert said. "You know, like we are suffering now from a loss of someone who didn’t have to die."

State Sen. Scott Weiner of San Francisco is behind two bills to drive change.

One would require all cars built or sold in California to have technology that prevents drivers from going 10 miles per hour above the speed limit. 

Another bill would hold Caltrans accountable for designing streets in a way that keeps pedestrians safe.

"You know, somebody just walking across the street and [getting] smacked off like that is not good," Bridges Sr. said.

So far, there’s no description of the vehicle that hit his son, or the person behind the wheel.

"Just own up to it," Norbert said. "That’s part of being grown."

Bridges Jr. also leaves behind his mother and a brother.

The family doesn’t know why he was in San Francisco the day he was killed.

If anyone knows anything about the hit-and-run, they are urged to call San Francisco police.

The family has a GoFundMe to help cover the cost of the funeral.

Bridges Sr. plans to have his son cremated so that he can give small amounts of his ashes to family and friends.