West Portal community grieves three killed in nightmare bus shelter crash

Reporting from WEST PORTAL

A massive crowd early Monday evening gathered at the site of a fatal crash Saturday that killed three, including a toddler, while waiting at a San Francisco Muni bus stop when an SUV crashed into the bus shelter near West Portal Station. An infant that was suffering from life-threatening injuries has now died, officials said.

Hundreds gathered, with some spilling into the street, at the intersection of Lenox Way and Ulloa Street near West Portal Avenue to place flowers, stuffed animals and candles to mourn the loss of the three killed early Saturday afternoon. A sign that read “SF Grieves,” along with photos of the victims, was displayed above the memorial.

The adult victims have been identified as Matilde Ramos Pinto, 38, and Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, 40, who were parents of a 1-year-old and 3-month-old infant. The 1-year-old died at the scene with Oliveira. Pinto was taken to the hospital, where authorities said she died on Saturday. The three-month-old was taken to the hospital with life-threatening and has since died, officials said Wednesday.

Mayor London Breed attended the vigil along with other city leaders including District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the neighborhood where the three were killed, and Amanda Eaken, who is the chair of the San Franciso Municipal Transportation Agency board.

There were no speakers at the vigil, but attendees were crying, hugging and shaking their heads in disbelief.

SFBay spoke with Jodie Medeiros, executive director of the pedestrian safety advocacy group, Walk San Francisco, about if the organization is calling for changes at the busy intersection. Medeiros said:

“We’re looking at the bigger picture particularly because it is the Vision Zero 10-year anniversary. We’re not concentrating just in this intersection. We’re looking at what needs to happen citywide and that’s that’s how we’re managing and thinking about this.”

Vision Zero is the city’s goal of ending traffic-related fatalities, which the city adopted in 2014 to end traffic fatalities in 10 years. This year marks 10 years of the policy and so far this year, seven people have died in San Francisco in traffic fatalities. From 2017 to 2022, 168 traffic deaths occurred in San Francisco.

Police said they arrested and booked Mary Fong Lau on Sunday, 78, on accusations of three counts of manslaughter. Additionally, jail records show police booked Lau for driving the wrong way on a divided highway and driving at unsafe speed. The cause of the crash is under investigation, police said.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Wednesday at an event on automated license plate readers that her office is still investigating the crash and awaiting more information from the police. She added that part of the investigation not only includes whether the driver was driving recklessly or under the influence but also for police to rule out or identify other issues that may have happened, including a medical emergency or a mechanical issue with the vehicle.

Medeiros said she will speak with the mayor this week about the next steps for Vision Zero and also getting ready for the city to install automated speed enforcement cameras. The SFMTA recently released a list of potential locations where they plan to install the cameras as part of a pilot program allowed under Assembly Bill 645.

On Tuesday, directors on the SFMTA board will receive an update on the deployment of the cameras from project staff.

This story has been updated to include updated information about the infant victim and from the district attorney.

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.