Two pedestrians were struck by a car Friday afternoon in the Mission District and left with potentially life-threatening injuries, according to police and fire officials at the scene. Four more people were left with minor injuries after the car also struck another oncoming vehicle.
Fire Department Assistant Chief Bill Storti confirmed that six people were transported to the hospital. The two pedestrians were rushed to San Francisco General Hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries, and two people from each vehicle, who sustained comparably minor injuries.
When Mission Local arrived at the scene, the area at 22nd Street and South Van Ness Avenue had been cordoned off with police tape. Shoes and clothes were strewn across the street, and one slipper was on the roof of the colliding car. One of the people from the car that struck the pedestrians was being loaded into a neck brace.
Passengers from the oncoming vehicle that was struck stood on the sidewalk before going into a fire department ambulance.
Amerie Wheeler lives a few doors down from the scene of the collision. She was in her home when she heard the sound of brakes screeching followed by a “big crash” and someone screaming something like “Help,” “Call 911,” and “Oh my god,” she said.
Wheeler went outside, where she saw two people lying on the street. One of them was conscious, Wheeler said, and kept asking about the other, who was not responding.
Storti, the assistant fire chief, said he was under the impression that both pedestrians would survive the incident.