Illegal left turn leads to Muni crash
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
August 21, 2008
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| Struck: A Dodge Magnum station wagon collided with a Muni light-rail vehicle Thursday in the Bayview. (Examiner file photo) |
An illegal left turn by a young woman in a car led to a collision with a Muni light-rail vehicle Thursday in the Bayview that left 10 people injured, police said, the latest in a string of incidents involving Muni this week.
The 20-something woman was driving her gray Dodge Magnum north on Third Street when she cut in front of the T-Third train to turn left on Galvez Street, San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said. Only Muni vehicles are permitted to make left turns at the intersection.
The accident is one of several Muni incidents recently. One day before this crash, an N-Judah light rail hit a woman at 30th Avenue and Judah Street in the Sunset district. She was sent to San Francisco General Hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries.
On Friday night, another female pedestrian was struck and injured by the 44-O’Shaughnessy bus near the intersection of Hudson Avenue and Ingalls Street, according to police. The woman suffered serious injuries but is expected to survive.
Sam Johnson, who lives near the site of Thursday’s crash, said he ran outside after hearing the wreck. The train had knocked the station wagon 50 feet, he said.
The driver was climbing out the car’s window while her male passenger appeared to be hurt, Johnson said.
“After the crash, he was lying on the seat with his legs outside the car,” he said. “She seemed to be OK but was acting like she was hurt later.”
About 30 passengers appeared to be riding the T-line. Most were in their work clothes and appeared shaken up by the crash, Johnson said.
Muni spokesman Judson True said six of the 10 injured passengers were transported to area hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening. Two of those hospitalized were the occupants of the Dodge Magnum.
Hugo Hernandez, who was working at nearby Brizuela’s Body Shop at the time of the crash, said fire trucks and ambulances crowded Third Street. Paramedics lined up injured passengers over a half-block of sidewalk and fitted them with neck braces while a woman in medical scrubs limped from the impact, Hernandez said.
Muni ran buses on Third Street between Burke and Armstrong avenues until 9:30 a.m. when light-rail service was restored, True said.
Police did not cite the driver and the investigation is ongoing, Gittens said.
