UPDATE 3/23/24 at 7:39pm: Added video below.
This information doesn't sit well with me. I say this because I just found out last year that in order for a person to donate their organs they must still be alive to remove the vital organs from the body. Who gave permission to donate this infants organs? Did the hospital make an executive decision to alleviate the child from further agony after losing their entire family from a speeding driver? (emphasis mine)
KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco published March 21, 2024: Baby's organs donated, relatives say in San Francisco crash victim statement. The driver facing charges in the San Francisco West Portal car crash has been released from the hospital. Meanwhile, we hear from relatives of an entire family killed for the first time.
🚨NO WHITE SUPREMACISTS INVOLVED🚨
Mar 18, 2024: West Portal crash: 78-year-old woman arrested after 3 family members die at San Francisco bus stop. A 78-year-old woman has been arrested on a litany of suspected charges after three members of the same family died when her SUV crashed into them over the weekend at the West Portal Muni bus stop in San Francisco.
NBC Bay Area published March 20, 2024: Family killed in deadly San Francisco bus stop crash identified. A memorial continues to grow for a San Francisco family who was killed in a bus stop crash over the weekend. As the community grieves, the victims are being identified by the medical examiner and the SFMTA board of directors are also reacting with a message to locals. Pete Suratos reports.
KPIX CBS News Bay Area published March 19, 2024: Neighborhood gathers and top city officials to pay respects to family killed by speeding driver.
Diego, a 40-year-old father from Brazil, and a toddler nearing his 2nd birthday tragically lost their lives at the scene. Matilde, a 38-year-old woman from Portugal, succumbed to her injuries on Sunday. The family, anticipating a trip to the Zoo to celebrate their wedding anniversary, was waiting at the West Portal Muni Station when tragedy struck.
Memorials have been appearing at the Ulloa Street bus stop where the incident occurred. Authorities have identified the driver responsible as 78-year-old Mary Fong Lau. She was arrested on Sunday and is currently detained in county jail facing charges of reckless driving and additional offenses. The 2-month-old baby is still in the hospital.
San Francisco Chronicle
written by Nora Mishanec
Tuesday March 19, 2024
The three people killed Saturday after an SUV crashed into a West Portal bus stop were a Brazilian-Portuguese family, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office confirmed Tuesday.
The victims were Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, 40, Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto, 38, and 1-year old Joaquin Ramos Pinto de Oliveira, medical examiners said.
The family’s injured 3-month-old infant remained hospitalized with life-threatening injuries on Monday, the San Francisco Police Department said.
“Their whole family is gone,” a representative of the the Brazilian Consulate of San Francisco told the Chronicle on Monday, noting that the infant was in intensive care.
Oliveira and Pinto and their children were waiting at the Muni bus stop around noon on Saturday when an SUV barreled into it. The suspected driver of the SUV, Mary Fong Lau, 78, was booked into jail on Sunday and remained in custody on Tuesday, records show.
Oliveira was a Brazilian citizen working in the Bay Area, according to the Brazilian Consulate of San Francisco and Clube de Criacao, a business association in Brazil. Oliveira was an associate creative director at Apple, where he’d worked for four years. His family planned to travel to San Francisco from Brazil to visit the infant, the consulate said.
The business association said Oliveira “had an incredible career outside of Brazil” that included time spent at advertising agencies in London.
“There are no words to express our sadness and our hope that the baby survives,” the association said.
Pinto had a long career in the advertising and film industry and had been an executive producer at Ridley Scott Films since 2022, according to a company press release from that year. The company declined to comment. The Portuguese Consulate of San Francisco declined to comment on her death, saying the Pinto family “is devastated and wants to safeguard its privacy.”
Lau’s attorney, Samuel Geller, told the Chronicle that Lau was still hospitalized as of Monday evening undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in the crash.
“It is a tough situation for her,” Geller said. “She is definitely not okay.”
Geller said Lau cooperated with investigators at the scene and continued to do so at the hospital. She and her family ask for privacy, the attorney said, as investigators continue to gather information about the circumstances of the crash.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Monday that her office was in the process of receiving case information and evidence from the Police Department, but had not yet charged Lau following the arrest.
Jenkins said her office was awaiting additional materials, including toxicology results and a review of the vehicle’s operating systems, before making decisions about charges.
********
CBS News, SF Bay Area local
written by Dave Pehling
Tuesday March 19, 2024
San Francisco officials on Tuesday confirmed the identity of the family members killed in Saturday's violent crash in the West Portal neighborhood.
The collision happened at around 12:13 p.m. Saturday near the West Portal Muni Metro station. Four people were standing at the bus stop at Ulloa Street and Lenox Way, outside the West Portal Branch Library, when an eastbound Mercedes SUV struck the buss shelter, authorities said after the terrible crash.
Friends of the victims had previously identified the victims as a family of four on an outing to celebrate the parents' wedding anniversary.
The San Francisco office of the Chief Medical Examiner sent out a release Tuesday morning that identified the victims killed in the crash as the father, 40-year-old Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, 38-year-old mother Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto, and their toddler son, one-year-old Joaquin Ramos Pinto de Oliveira. All three are San Francisco residents.
Cardoso de Oliveira and his son Joaquin were pronounced dead at the scene. Moncada Ramos Pinto died from her injuries on Sunday, authorities announced. Only the couple's infant a baby boy survived the crash. He remains hospitalized after sustaining critical injuries.
Witnesses said the driver was going between 50 and 70 miles per hour in the wrong direction on Ulloa Street. They said there were no signs of braking and no skid marks on the road.
Monday morning, San Francisco police announced the arrest of the elderly driver involved in the crash. Jail records indicate the suspect driver, identified as 78-year-old Mary Fong Lau, was booked Sunday afternoon on charges of vehicular manslaughter, reckless driving, reckless driving with bodily injury, driving the wrong way on a divided road, and driving at an unsafe speed.
Although police announced her arrest, Lau's attorney told KPIX she is still at the hospital being treated for her injuries and has been hospitalized since Saturday. Her condition and the severity of her injuries remain unknown.
On Tuesday, Lau and her family released the following statement through her attorney:
"Ms. Lau and her family join the community in mourning the tragic loss of life that occurred in West Portal over the weekend.
We express our gratitude to the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco Fire Department, and all of the other first responders that responded to the scene, and to the San Francisco District Attorneys Office for undertaking a diligent and thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to this tragic accident. Ms. Lau has been fully cooperating with investigators and will continue to do so.
While it's understandable to seek more information regarding the causes of this devastating accident, Ms. Lau and her family respectfully request privacy during this difficult time as investigators continue to gather relevant information."
Friends said Diego was originally from Brazil and his family members were flying to San Francisco. They also said Matilde was originally from Portugal and her family is flying to the Bay Area as well.
Since the deadly crash, a growing memorial has appeared at the Ulloa Street bus stop. On Monday night, a large group of people gathered at the crash site, some of them in tears, to remember the young family.
"It's just so incredibly sad," said resident Larry Nelson. "I mean all they were doing was going to the zoo. You know, and then the little baby is still in the hospital. It's just heartbreaking."
No comments:
Post a Comment