In the early morning hours of Dec. 27, there was a pedestrian fatality on the Upper Great Highway.
News of this incident spread quickly. Local media outlets and news sources immediately reported on the incident. The San Francisco Standard headlined the incident, “Motorist Kills Woman on Controversial Stretch of Highway,” while other news sources framed the accident similarly.
I am offering my perspective not as a speculative journalist but as someone who was present and intimately involved in the incident. I was a firefighter/EMT in one of the first units on the scene, and I drove the victim to the hospital.
Early in the morning, about half past 5 a.m., our engine received a dispatch to a “vehicle versus a pedestrian.” In most cases in the daytime, these incidents typically are not serious. The injuries are usually minor to moderate, and visibility is good, with heavier traffic and slower speeds.
However, given the time of night and the weather conditions, I knew this incident could be more serious. Conditions at the time of the accident were dark, with periods of light rain and poor visibility. We responded from Station 34, located at 41st Avenue and Geary Boulevard, along with Engine 23, located at 45th Avenue and Irving Street, and an ambulance from another location.
Dispatch told us the accident was at Irving and Great Highway; however, it was unclear whether it was upper or lower. We took the upper highway while Engine 23 took the lower highway. Soon after, dispatch changed the location to Ulloa Street and Great Highway. In traffic accidents, reporting information is often unreliable and inaccurate, so it is not uncommon to change the response.
We came on the accident to a victim with serious injuries lying in the roadway next to the median, about 1 3/4 miles south of Lincoln Way.
I made several observations, including the rainy weather, the wet road conditions, the dark predawn, the misty conditions, the lack of street lighting, the victim’s clothing (which was not appropriate for the time and weather), and the location of the incident (which did not occur at a crosswalk).
We spent minimal time on the scene. The ambulance paramedics decided to load the patient and provide care en route immediately. At the time of loading, the patient still had a pulse and was viable.
In severe medical emergencies, the responding engine crew often splits up — the engine paramedic is tapped to assist the ambulance paramedic in the ambulance, while the firefighter/EMT is tapped to drive to the hospital. The responding engine follows with the driver and lieutenant. In this case, I served as the driver of the ambulance. We loaded the patient and immediately made the long trek from Ulloa Street/Great Highway to San Francisco General Hospital (our local trauma center) at 22nd Street and Potrero Avenue, more than eight miles away.
Given the time of day, I decided to travel Sloat Avenue to Junipero Serra to Ocean to Interstate 280 to U.S. 101 to exit 432 (Cesar Chavez/Bayshore) to Potrero Avenue to San Francisco General (the internal map of San Francisco I had growing up here still serves me well today). Upon arrival at the 22nd Street ambulance entrance at San Francisco General, the patient no longer had a pulse.
We rushed her into the trauma room, only a few yards from the entrance to the building to a waiting team of trauma doctors and nurses.
I didn’t get a great look at the patient’s face, only the body. As a firefighter, I often don’t like to see the face because I try never to make a personal connection with patients, especially if the injury is quite serious, as it was in this case. It’s nothing personal; it helps me maintain my sanity if I don’t know anything about the patients I see.
When we were at the scene of the accident, I remember the police saying that they believed this person was reported missing earlier by the family and had dementia. I also remember that the motorist who struck the person was pulled over and cooperated with police. I glanced at the driver for only a second; the driver seemed to cooperate fully with the authorities. Nothing led me to believe this was intentional or malicious. The driver did not try to evade or flee. However, in that quick second that I did see the driver, I noticed a combined expression of anxiety and shock.
There were several noteworthy facts about the incident. The victim heading to the beach at 5:30 a.m. in what appeared to be a robe or pajamas; the victim was not crossing at a crosswalk; and the rainy predawn with wet roads, no street lighting, and reduced visibility.
The behavior of the victim was consistent with someone who had cognitive decline. Often, such individuals lack situational awareness to the degree that it puts them at grave risk of injury or death. It is unknown where the victim was headed; however, if she had continued past the highway, she could have come in contact with the waves at Ocean Beach, presenting a whole new litany of dangers.
When I was at the scene, I was thinking in the back of my mind about the potential explosiveness of this incident. It occurred on one of the most hotly contested roads in SanFrancisco — the Great Highway. This roadway was so contentious and controversial that it arguably blew apart the moderate movement in San Francisco and helped maintain a progressive majority on the Board of Supervisors (more about that in an upcoming article). I hoped this incident would not become politicized, but I knew it would be regardless.
Not more than half a day later, it was.
I soon learned of the first press releases from Lucas Lux, president of Friends of Ocean Beach Park. “Going to the beach should not be a life-or-death matter.” Robin Pam, president of Westside Family Democratic Club and husband to Zach Rosen of Abundant SF, claimed, “It shouldn’t be a death sentence for a senior to wander into the road.” Safe Street Rebel (a bike activist group whose members include Adam Egelman, a self-described tactical urbanist, bullying advocate, and radical anticop bike activist from Portland who has been seen with Lucas Lux lurking in the background at Open the Great Highway demonstrations) put a sign at the site of the accident, stating, “A driver killed our neighbor here,” although it’s highly doubtful that anyone from Safe Street Rebel knew or even cared about this person before her death.
What they are missing about the incident is context. These individuals were quick to capitalize on this incident to promote their pet causes. Still, as someone who was at this incident, I can tell you that this was not just some routine visit to the beach, nor was this a typical stroll by a senior citizen along the sand. This had much more to do with the mental condition of the victim.
As anyone who has a family member with dementia can tell you, no matter how hard a family tries, there is always a risk of a person escaping, becoming lost, and becoming exposed to danger. In this case, the worst possible outcome happened. Everyone involved in this accident has suffered or will suffer permanent adverse effects ranging from mortality to mental trauma to extreme guilt. Time will make the pain and suffering less, but it will certainly never absolve the persons involved from trauma in some form.
This provides valuable context to the accident at Great Highway. As someone who has been involved in several newsworthy incidents throughout my career with the fire department, I can tell you with utmost certainty that the media never gets the story perfectly right, and often, whether done on purpose or not, it sways public opinion and distorts the perception of what actually happened.
