Four days before Nicolas Montejo Lopez turned 42, he was struck by a car near Crocker Amazon park. He was just blocks away from his house and on his way home to his wife and his two kids after a day of work in construction.
The driver fled the scene and Lopez was transported to the hospital, where he spent 17 days in the ICU. He passed away on Oct. 18.
Lopez is survived by his wife Victoria, a seven-year-old daughter who attends Guadalupe Elementary and a 17-year-old son.
The suspect, identified by the San Francisco Police Department as 29-year-old David Maldonado Sanabria, was arrested on the same day, three miles from the scene, according to the police department.
Maldonado Sanabria, who has multiple prior DUI convictions, according to a police department investigation, was booked into the San Francisco County Jail on Oct. 2. On Oct. 27 he was charged with murder in connection to a fatal hit and run, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and leaving the scene of a crash. His court date is Nov. 18, 2026.
“We’re heartbroken,” said Roberto Rivera, the president of the parent teacher association at Guadalupe Elementary where Lopez’s daughter attends school. “He was such a young guy.”
Rivera said parents at the school have, for years, been trying to improve traffic safety around Guadalupe — which sits about five blocks south of the fatal intersection — putting up signs around the school to tell drivers to slow down.
“We have been trying hard to prevent this from happening,” Rivera said. “And it still did.”
District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen, whose district includes Crocker Amazon, said she was “deeply horrified to learn of the fatal hit-and-run.”
“My office is awaiting an evaluation of the intersection for potential safety improvements and continues to work with SFMTA to urgently identify and implement traffic safety improvements throughout the district,” Chen said in a statement.
Rene Gamez, whose daughter is best friends with Lopez’s daughter, described Lopez as “a good guy and head of the family” who worked hard — usually 10 to 11 hours a day — to provide for his kids.
“He definitely doesn’t deserve that type of thing,” Gamez said.
The two fathers had hit it off quickly when they first met at Lopez’s daughter’s birthday party last year — both work in construction, are immigrants from South America (him from El Salvador and Lopez from Mexico), close in age, and have daughters attending the same school.
Lopez’s death came as a shock.
“To me, it is like today you can be enjoying your family and tomorrow there’s no warranty,” Gamez said. “I couldn’t even believe that he was gone. It made me sad because I see myself in him.”
You can donate to the Lopez family on GoFundMe here to help with funeral expenses and overall financial support.
