Three cars collided this morning at the intersection of 23rd Street and South Van Ness Avenue, sending one man to the hospital in unknown condition and almost hitting a pedestrian crossing the street.
The crash took place near 8:50 a.m. and involved a gold Chevrolet, a blue Porsche SUV, and an SUV Luxor taxicab. The Chevy seemed to have careened onto the sidewalk after hitting the taxicab, sending its driver to the hospital after it hit a wall. The crash almost sent the taxi into a pedestrian in the crosswalk, the pedestrian said.
“I was in the middle of the intersection” when the taxi came towards her, said Lesley Sandfort, a Mission District resident. When the crash happened, she moved backwards as quickly as possible and narrowly avoided being hit, she said. “It was like slow motion, I saw every piece of glass coming towards me. I didn’t know I could run backwards.”
It’s unclear how the crash unfolded. Sandfort said the Chevy was going southbound on South Van Ness Avenue fast and hit the taxi, which was going eastbound on 23rd Street. The Chevy then seems to have hit the blue Porsche before skidding onto the sidewalk and continuing there for half a block before crashing into a building.
Sandfort said that when the Chevy crashed, its tires were still spinning.
An officer on the scene said the investigation was still open and that he did not yet know more.
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Venus Savea, the owner of the Chevy, was not driving it at the time. She had lent it to her brother-in-law, and did not know what happened during the crash. She said she did not know her brother-in-law’s condition, but knew he was speaking.
“I know he was coherent,” she said.
Traffic was shut down on South Van Ness Avenue between 23rd and 24th streets, and traffic on 23rd was slow as cars were waved through by police officers.
