Police arrested 50-year-old Richmond resident Kenneth Hansel for vehicular manslaughter and failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, following a fatal crash on June 27 at First and Howard streets, SFPD said in a statement.
The pedestrian, a 30-year-old man from Oakland, was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and later passed away. The driver remained on scene and cooperated with the investigation, police said.
SFPD’s Southern District Police Station and the SFPD Traffic Collision Investigation Unit conducted an investigation and determined the driver was at fault. He was arrested last Thursday. In a statement, SFPD reminded drivers to proactively look for pedestrians and bicyclists in the roadway.
As we reported in June, the intersection of Howard and First streets is identified as a high-injury corridor under the city's Vision Zero plan, which aims to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2024. In March, 30-year-old Tess Rothstein was killed while cycling just a few blocks away, at Howard and Sixth streets.
Earlier this week, pedestrian advocates urged city leaders to do whatever it takes to make us all safe on our streets during a rally in front of City Hall. Walk San Francisco asked the city to install additional red-light cameras at many more major high-injury intersections, to develop a legislative strategy to bring speed safety cameras to San Francisco streets, bring lower speed limits to all city streets, and prioritize people over vehicles.
"Together with Supervisor Matt Haney and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, we asked city leaders to declare a state of emergency for traffic safety," Walk SF representatives wrote in a statement.
The rally took place after 39-year-old Clovis resident Benjamin Dean was killed, and his wife critically injured, by a driver while they were in a crosswalk in the Tenderloin last Sunday. Police later arrested the driver, 21-year-old Vallejo resident Kelsey Mariah Cambridge.
On Monday, police said they arrested San Francisco resident Eleasia Fraise, 20, in connection with the death of Konstantinos "Gus" Vardakastanis, the popular owner of three local grocery stores, who was killed in a hit-and-run in the Bayview two years ago.
While an arrest has been made, anyone with information about this SoMa crash is asked to call the SFPD 24 hour tip line at 1-415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. You may remain anonymous.
