San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
2nd crash victim IDd as furor grows
Hanako Abe seemed excited about what the new year might bring.
“# PeaceOut2020. Physically apart, yet closer than EVER to family and friends this year,” the Japaneseborn San Francisco resident wrote New Year’s Eve on her Instagram page, accompanied by a selfie with a beaming, wide smile. “Also taught me so much of perseverance, gratitude and selflove. We are resilient.”
But Abe, 27, would not live to see the new year. Later that day, she was one of two people who were fatally struck and killed walking in San Francisco. Also killed was Elizabeth Platt, 60.
Authorities said the driver of the car that hit Platt and Abe, 45yearold Troy Ramon McAlister, was intoxicated and driving a stolen gray Honda when he hit the two women on Mission Street about 4 p. m. Thursday. He fled the scene and was arrested by police who found him hiding in a nearby commercial building, authorities said.
The deaths of Platt and Abe ignited a furor directed at San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, whom critics have accused of not holding criminals accountable. McAlister was on parole for robbery at the time of the crash, having been released in April. In the months between his release and the crash, McAlister was arrested several times, on suspicion of crimes including car theft, possession of burglary tools and violating the terms of his parole. But the District Attorney’s Office did not charge him with any new crimes and instead referred the matter to state parole agents.
Just before the crash, police said, McAlister committed a burglary nearby.
The tragedy has led to fingerpointing among law enforcement agencies. Boudin said his office referred those cases to state parole agents instead of charging McAlister — but conceded Friday that it “was a mistake to think parole supervision would be adequate.”
A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, though, said the agency’s parole office “followed all procedures after these incidents, including conducting investigations and making appropriate referrals for the individual.”
“None of the parolee’s arrests following his 2020 release have yet to result in the filing of criminal charges by the district attorney,” the corrections spokesperson said.
Without mentioning Boudin or the District Attorney’s Office by name, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement that “we must all be held equally accountable for the decisions we make, because they can have serious implications for the safety of those we serve.”
“San Franciscans deserve nothing less,” Scott said, “and that’s what they’re demanding from all of us in the criminal justice system.”
Abe had worked as an analyst for commercial real estate firm JLL since 2018, according to her LinkedIn page. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and previously attended Campbellsville University in Kentucky.
She volunteered frequently, including at the Arkansas Foodbank, as a referee at robotics competitions and as a judge for youth art competitions, her LinkedIn page said.
Details about Platt’s life were not immediately available Saturday. A man who answered the door of a Mission District residence listed under her name said she may have been a previous tenant.
McAlister declined to be interviewed at a San Francisco jail, where he is being held on charges including manslaughter, hit and run, burglary, resisting arrest and driving under the influence.