Thursday, August 26, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO
Pedestrian killed by hit-run driver in 19th Ave. intersection
He's 6th person in 3 years to be killed on busy boulevard
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
A 26-year-old San Francisco man was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver early Wednesday as he crossed 19th Avenue at the southern entrance to Golden Gate Park.
Tu Tran was found on 19th Avenue near Lincoln Way at 12:30 a.m. He is believed to have been hit as he was walking west in a crosswalk. Evidence suggests the driver was headed north on 19th, but police don't have any witnesses.
Nineteenth Avenue is an especially dangerous street; Tran is at least the sixth person to be killed trying to cross the six-lane boulevard since 2001.
Earlier this year, Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill that would double fines for speeding and other traffic offenses along a 5.1-mile stretch of Highway 1, a 35-mph zone that includes 19th Avenue and Park Presidio Blvd.
The legislation has since been combined with proposals to focus on two other dangerous traffic areas and is pending before the state Senate. This is the last scheduled week of the session, and the bill will die if not acted on.
"With yet another unfortunate incident last night,'' said Adam Keigwin, Yee's spokesman, "we are pushing for the Senate to approve it.''
Tran's sister, Betty Tran, said her brother had come to this country as a young child from Vietnam. He had been washing dishes at a restaurant in the Mission, but had personal problems recently and had been out of touch with his family, she said.
She asked that anyone who saw the accident come forward.
"I know he had a tough time, but he was someone who was wanted and loved by us all," she said. "He didn't have it easy. . . . None of us did.
"We just all hoped he would be OK," she said. "Now to have this, it's pretty devastating.''
