3-month-old in West Portal crash has died
A baby whose parents and brother were killed when a sport utility vehicle plowed into a bus stop in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood over the weekend has died, police and officials said Wednesday.
Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the area, confirmed the infant’s death Wednesday afternoon, and San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott informed the Police Commission on Wednesday evening, saying, “This was a horrific incident and heartbreaking.”
Melgar said the infant had been transferred to palliative care due to the gravity of the injuries after the crash that killed the family members.
“I have no words,” Melgar said through tears.
The baby’s father and 1-yearold brother were killed on impact Saturday when an SUV crashed into the West Portal bus stop where the Brazilian-Portuguese family was waiting, the San Francisco Police Department said. The baby’s mother died the next day.
They were identified by the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office as Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, 40; Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto, 38; and Joaquin Ramos Pinto de Oliveira, 1.
The baby was being treated for life-threatening injuries in an Oakland hospital, a representative of the Brazilian Consulate of San Francisco told the Chronicle on Monday, noting that the infant was in intensive care.
“The whole family is gone,” the representative said.
Melgar said family members elected to have the baby’s organs donated.
The driver of the SUV, Mary Fong Lau, 78, was booked into jail on Sunday and remained in custody until Wednesday, when she was released, according to her attorney, Samuel Geller. Records show she was booked on vehicular manslaughter, driving the wrong way and speeding.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Monday that her office was in the process of receiving case information and evidence from the Police Department but had not yet charged Lau after the arrest.
Jenkins said her office was awaiting additional materials, including toxicology results and a review of the vehicle’s operating systems, before making decisions about charges.
Melgar said the crash had added urgency to San Francisco’s stalled efforts to improve street safety. Last year, 25 people were killed in traffic, according to city tallies.
“Some of us are going to fight like hell to make our cities safer,” the supervisor said. “The city has been so slow to implement things that make people on the sidewalk, people waiting for the bus safer. We need to move faster.”
“We need to save lives,” she added. “This was not OK.”
More than 100 people gathered at a vigil for the family in West Portal on Monday, where police blocked off streets near the crash site to accommodate a makeshift memorial and the crowd. Scott and Mayor London Breed attended the vigil and placed flowers on the memorial.
Breed called the crash “heartbreaking” after visiting the scene Saturday.
Oliveira was a Brazilian citizen working for Apple in the Bay Area, according to the Brazilian Consulate of San Francisco and Clube de Criação, a business association in Brazil. He was an associate creative director at Apple, where he had worked for four years.
The business association said Oliveira “had an incredible career outside of Brazil” that included time spent at advertising agencies in London.
Pinto had a long career in the advertising and film industry and had been an executive producer at Ridley Scott’s production company since 2022, according to a company news release from that year. The company declined to comment. The Portuguese consulate of San Francisco declined to comment on her death, saying the Pinto family “is devastated and wants to safeguard its privacy.”