Five people were injured in San Francisco Wednesday when an AC Transit bus rammed into another AC Transit bus, crashed into an occupied vehicle, careened onto a sidewalk, and stopped between a high-rise building and some scaffolding, “narrowly missing” traffic light poles, police said.

The bus was traveling northbound near Fremont and Folsom streets at the time of the crash, which was reported around 9:25 a.m., Officer Robert Rueca told reporters.

The five people who were sent to area hospitals include the drivers of both buses, a bus passenger and a passenger in a private vehicle, according to AC Transit spokesman Robert Lyles. 

“We wanted to transport them as quickly as possible, knowing that the traffic in the area was going to get heavy and that their health was our biggest concern,” Rueca said.

One of the five victims appears to have taken themselves to the hospital at some point after the collision, Lyles said.

Passengers aboard the bus said the entire experience lasted between 15 and 20 seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

“We were crossing Folsom, and we felt a couple of sharp jolts and I thought maybe they were pumping their brakes,” said Dave Zemke. “But then we hit something really big.”

That big bump was another bus. The green vehicle only came to a stop after hitting the scaffolding of a building on the 200 block of Fremont Street.

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There is an AC transit bus on the sidewalk on Fremont St btwn.Folsom &Howard. Passengers tell me driver passed out, hit another bus and pole pic.twitter.com/TqFvvskRa8

— Sam Brock (@SamNBCBayArea) September 27, 2017

A commuter seated near the front of the bus said the driver appeared to be on the verge of passing out.

The driver “started coming down” the hill, Carrie Murphy said, “and you know how the buses line up, and there’s like a passing lane and she tried to ask one of the other bus drivers to let her in because she wasn’t feeling well.”

Rueca said that the bus didn’t hit any pedestrians on the 200 block of Fremont Street, otherwise the crash could have been much worse. 

“There was a gentleman who I was talking to that said he was walking down the sidewalk, looked back, saw the bus approaching and jumped into a planter and actually watched as the bus went over!” Zemke said.

Traffic in downtown San Francisco was “heavily impacted” for several hours because the buses couldn’t be moved until police officers had processed the scene of the collision, said Rueca.

For hours after the crash, crews removed the scaffolding above the bus one piece and pipe at a time. Two tow trucks were then needed to hoist the bus from the pavement. 

The crash closed the Fremont/Folsom Street and Harrison Street off-ramps from Interstate 80, but both have since reopened, Rueca said. As of around 4 p.m., the only remaining street closure was on the section of Fremont Street between Folsom and Howard streets.

Rueca said it is too early to comment on the cause of the crash. An investigation is ongoing.

AC Transit buses typically traverse the city “safely,” he said. “This is a rare occurrence.”

Lyles said AC Transit has collected video from the involved buses and is checking to see if any San Francisco city buses in the area have video that might be helpful.

“We’re very grateful that the injuries were limited, and that there weren’t more bystanders or pedestrians involved in this,” Lyles said. “We are investing considerable energy and effort into trying to ascertain exactly what happened.”

Lyles said that Fremont Street was cleared fairly quickly and buses on the popular Transbay bus line were able to regain access to the San Francisco terminal by around 1 p.m.

The post AC Transit Bus Crash That Injured 5 in Downtown San Francisco Is Below Investigation – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Janie Har, Haven Daley, and The Associated Press

1 month ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The city of San Francisco has opened a complaint and launched an investigation into a giant “X” sign that was installed Friday on top of the downtown building formerly known as Twitter headquarters.

The complaint comes as Twitter owner Elon Musk continues his rebrand of the social media platform.

City officials say replacing letters or symbols on buildings, or erecting a sign on top of one, requires a permit for design and safety reasons.

Musk explains Twitter rebranding, vows to add features

The X appeared after San Francisco police stopped workers on Monday from removing the brand’s iconic bird and logo from the side of the building, saying they hadn’t taped off the sidewalk to keep pedestrians safe if anything fell.

Any replacement letters or symbols would require a permit to ensure “consistency with the historic nature of the building” and to make sure additions are safely attached to the sign, Patrick Hannan, spokesperson for the Department of Building Inspection, said earlier this week.

Erecting a sign on top of a building also requires a permit, Hannan said Friday.

“Planning review and approval is also necessary for the installation of this sign. The city is opening a complaint and initiating an investigation,” he said in an email.

Workers install lighting on an “X” sign at the Twitter headquarters in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, July 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Musk unveiled a new “X” logo to replace Twitter’s famous blue bird as he remakes the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year. The X started appearing at the top of the desktop version of Twitter on Monday.

Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, has long been fascinated with the letter X and had already renamed Twitter’s corporate name to X Corp. after he bought it in October. One of his children is called “X,” though the child’s actual name is a collection of letters and symbols.

On Friday afternoon, a worker on a lift machine made adjustments to the sign and then left.

The post New ‘X’ emblem atop Twitter constructing in San Francisco prompts criticism, investigation from metropolis | WTAJ appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Dr. Carl Wigren could stand in for just about any medical examiner as seen on TV. He’s witty, a fast talker who knows a lot about investigating deaths.

In fact, Wigren has been on TV, after testifying as an expert witness in high-profile criminal cases. He’s the guy you call when a death investigation furnishes more questions than answers. 

And, Wigren says, that happens a lot more than you think. 

“It’s the image that’s popularized on television crime shows,” Wigren told KNKX Public Radio, “that whoever is doing that autopsy really knows what they’re doing.” 

But reality is a lot more complicated.  

In Washington state and many states like it nationwide, the system of death investigation is a patchwork led by professionals with wide-ranging experience. 

Only six counties in the state’s most populous areas rely on the work of medical examiners, doctors who specialize in forensic pathology. That means they are highly trained — even more than the average primary care provider.

Medical examiners manage a staff of investigators, perform autopsies and interpret toxicology results, among other medical duties necessary to determine causes of sudden, unnatural or suspicious deaths. 

This story is the first in a three-part series examining the system of death investigation in Washington state. Read and listen to Part 2 and Part 3.

The remaining 33 counties, covering a population of about 2.5 million people, depend on elected coroners. In 17 counties, candidates only have to check two boxes to make it onto the ballot: they must be 18 years old and have a clean criminal record. 

And in the state’s 16 least populated counties, prosecuting attorneys investigate deaths when they aren’t trying cases. In other words, they split their time between courtrooms and death scenes. 

In all coroner offices, those elected officials are administrators who manage the death investigation process with little or no support staff, minus medical duties — because they often don’t have the training. 

Credit Adrian Florez / KNKX

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KNKX

Kitsap County’s coroner, who was elected in 2018, is taking steps to transition the county from a coroner to a medical examiner system. Kittitas County transitioned to an elected coroner system in 2015, after its population surpassed 40,000.

While some coroners in Washington have prior experience related to death and medicine, such as mortuary work and nursing, others don’t have any relevant experience at all. Wigren says at one point, Eastern Washington’s roster of coroners included a former chimney sweep and a farmer. 

That mixed bag can result in shoddy work, he says, which has consequences.

Death determinations inform what we know about rates of suicide and murder. They affect decisions on public policy and life insurance claims. They help public health officials identify clusters of deadly disease, or trends in drug overdoses.

On a more personal level, though, this work provides closure to families who are left with questions about the sudden death of a loved one. It helps children learn about previously unknown medical conditions in their parents, potentially preventing similar deaths for other family members. It even helps prosecutors determine whether police killings are justified.  

And any mistakes or substandard work by untrained professionals has potential to disrupt that important public service. Missteps could interfere with homicide investigations or insurance payouts. Right now, it can affect data used to inform our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

More simply, though, this work seals the final chapter of someone’s life.

“These are the individuals who are responding to your family’s death,” Wigren said, often under traumatic circumstances. 

So, where you die determines a lot, including who responds and where they take your body for an autopsy. If you live in Pierce County and die unexpectedly more than 120 miles away in Wahkiakum County, your body and death certificate will be handled by an elected official you didn’t vote for.

Credit Parker Miles Blohm / KNKX

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KNKX

Dr. Carl Wigren owns a Renton-based private practice, Wigren Forensic. He has consulted on cases here and across the country, including one case featured on an episode of NBC’s “Dateline” in 2016.

MOBILE MORGUES

Hayley Thompson, the coroner in Skagit County, doesn’t sugarcoat the problems facing her industry. She understands the weight of the job — a public service to the voters who elected her. 

“As much as we don’t like to talk about death, it allows us to understand more about what we can do about the people who are living,” Thompson said during an interview at her office in Mount Vernon. 

Thompson is among the more experienced coroners. She’s a trained death investigator with a background in forensic anthropology. She’s worked under medical examiners in Snohomish County and in Arizona’s largest county. 

In both offices, she assisted with autopsies. But she can’t perform those exams in the office she holds now.

Credit Parker Miles Blohm / KNKX

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KNKX

Hayley Thompson sits at her desk inside the Skagit County Coroner’s Office in Mount Vernon.

So, Thompson and 32 of her fellow coroners scattered across Washington have to rely on outside help. A small cohort of traveling forensic pathologists — highly trained, contracted doctors — crisscross the state year-round, performing hundreds of autopsies that elected officials can’t do themselves. 

Wigren, who now owns a Renton-based private practice that consults on cases here and across the country, used to be one those travelers. 

“I would pack up the back of my Toyota 4-Runner with a bunch of cases,” Wigren said. “And then bring that to the funeral home, and create a morgue that I could literally work out of.”  

Right now, only a few of these pathologists are actively traveling in Washington. Each county has its go-to doctors, and many of them overlap. 

“Our pathologists that contract for us, they also work for two or three other coroner offices,” Thompson said. “So, when we call them to ask for their assistance on a case, sometimes they already have plans to help another office out with a case.”

Thompson’s not kidding when she says they get around. State records show the most active traveling pathologist in 2019 was Dr. Emmanuel Lacsina of Tacoma. He performed more than 600 autopsies over a two-year period, billing more than $520,000 in fees.  

Performance standards set by the National Association of Medical Examiners recommend forensic pathologists perform no more than 250 autopsies in a year, to minimize mistakes. Between the summers of 2017 and 2019, records show Lacsina’s average exceeded that standard. In that time, the work had him traveling between six counties spanning the length of the Olympic Peninsula: from Jefferson County to the north, down to Lewis County, and west to Grays Harbor County.

Credit Parker Miles Blohm / KNKX

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KNKX

The most active traveling pathologist in 2019 was Dr. Emmanuel Lacsina of Tacoma, according to state records. He performed more than 600 autopsies between the summers of 2017 and 2019, billing more than $520,000 in fees. The work had him traveling between six counties spanning the length of the Olympic Peninsula: from Jefferson County to the north, down to Lewis County, and west to Grays Harbor County.

It’s not a glamorous gig. Burnout is common. In any given year, the most active travelers in Washington spend more time driving from county to county than they do performing autopsies.

And their workload is increasing. As of 2019, roughly a half dozen pathologists were doing all of the autopsies in a majority of Washington’s 39 counties. In the past year, more than half have retired or scaled way back, including Lacsina.

Dr. Eric Kiesel is among the few who remain active. In that two-year period ending in 2019, Kiesel performed more than 230 autopsies in 13 counties. The work had him traveling as far west as Clallam County and as far east as Adams County, roughly 400 miles apart. Now, Kiesel’s distance traveled and volume of autopsies is likely to increase, as he and few others pick up the slack left behind by their retired colleagues.  

Credit Parker Miles Blohm / KNKX

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KNKX

Dr. Eric Kiesel is one of only a few remaining forensic pathologists actively traveling across Washington state. Between the summers of 2017 and 2019 — when the pool of travelers was double what it is today — Kiesel performed more than 230 autopsies in 13 counties. He billed more than $300,000.

Attracting people to replace outgoing travelers isn’t easy. The country’s pipeline of forensic pathologists is drying up. Only about 500 practice nationwide, and recruiting efforts are stagnant. 

Becoming a forensic pathologist requires additional education beyond what’s standard for other medical specialties, which often pay at least double the average medical examiner salary. Additionally, only some counties — like King and Pierce — hire forensic pathologists to work in well-equipped facilities with a full staff.  

Those who choose to take their work on the road, like the handful of doctors in Washington, can make a lot of money. But they must cover their own malpractice insurance and benefits. And they have to haul their own equipment to substandard or makeshift facilities, sometimes hours away from where they live. 

That’s a hard sell for newbies coming into the business, says Wigren, who stopped traveling for this kind of work about five years ago. 

“When I was really actively doing this, I would get a call from Benton County, which is the Tri-Cities,” Wigren said. “I would drive three and a half hours out, perform the autopsy, and then drive three and half hours back to Seattle.” 

And sometimes, after walking in the door from that seven-hour road trip, Wigren would get another call from Benton County — looking for him to perform yet another autopsy.

“So then I would hop back in the car and drive all the way back, do the single autopsy, and then drive back to Seattle,” he said. “It’s a challenging way to practice medicine.” 

A BREAKING POINT

So, elected officials and prosecutors are not cutting open dead bodies. But they are struggling to find people who can. 

Wigren says that means some coroners, who lack medical training, sometimes draw blood and attempt to interpret toxicology results using textbooks and supplies they buy online. 

“There are literally, in Washington state, people who are elected officials who are drawing blood on decedents,” Wigren said. “Some of them have some training or they’ve watched that happen. But I would say that most of them don’t have any understanding of the anatomy of the body and where certain organs are.”

Wigren has firsthand experience with coroners playing doctor. He cites one case in Central Washington in 2012, in which a coroner incorrectly interpreted toxicology results for the sudden death of an elderly woman. The coroner determined the woman died by accidental drug intoxication. Wigren, who worked with the family to review the case, determined the woman likely died from natural causes. 

There are literally, in Washington state, people who are elected officials who are drawing blood on decedents.

But examining a body is only half the job. If the death scene isn’t properly investigated, Wigren says, a traveling pathologist is at a disadvantage even before performing an autopsy. 

“I would argue that the scene investigation of where that person died is critical in understanding how the death came to be,” Wigren said. 

Often, he says, a traveling pathologist is forced to perform an autopsy in a vacuum of information, because a coroner didn’t take photographs or collect medical records. “So there is no context to understand the death scene,” Wigren said. In that 2012 case in Central Washington, the records Wigren used to reach his determination were never reviewed by the coroner he says got it wrong.   

Experts say these gaps are bad news for public health data, which begins with forensic work and passes through state, national and even international health organizations.

A key function of death investigation is learning from the dead to help the living. That’s especially important now — in the middle of a pandemic. These frontline workers provide some of the most timely data to help public health officials better understand and respond to COVID-19. Gaps in coroner training and experience limit what we can learn. 

“I’ve spent a lot of time, I’ve had my boots on the ground,” Wigren said. “I just don’t think the system that we have now works.”

With fewer boots on the ground, fanning across the state to assist coroners and prosecutors, the industry is at a breaking point. 

That worries coroners, too, like Thompson in Skagit County. Despite its flaws, Thompson believes the system works. It just needs reforming to make it work better, she says.   

“One of the hard parts of my job is trying to find people that are going to do a good job, care about what they do, and provide us the information that we need for the family, community and also to make the death certificate as accurate as possible.”

This story is the first in a three-part series examining the patchwork system of death investigation in Washington state. In Part 2, we’ll visit coroners in Skagit, Grays Harbor, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties, and get an up-close look at the challenges the elected officials there are facing. 

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The latest scandal involves 17 officers who sent the inappropriate text messages and other officers who received them – a significant percentage of a department with only about 100 officers.

Bonta said his office has been keeping tabs on the Antioch Police for some time — over concerns including the inappropriate use of force and dogs.

“We have seen data that shows an increase in excessive use of force in the Antioch Police Department more clearly than other local police departments in the vicinity and region,” Bonta said. “We have seen that excessive violence has differential effects on communities of color, including black community members.”

The investigation follows years of complaints by numerous Antioch residents of color about harmful and potentially illegal police practices, and comes amid ongoing investigations by the FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office into alleged misconduct within the department.

But Bonta said the recent SMS scandal has hastened the launch of his office’s investigation.

“These texts are difficult to read. You are racist. You are homophobic. They are misogynistic. And these are not just comments that have nothing to do with official duties. They are directly related to official duties, including the use of force,” Bonta said, noting that he felt an “emotional, visceral, guttural response” as he read it.

“I think almost 20% of the police force is involved in text messaging,” he added. “Almost half of the police are involved in receiving this text message.”

This story includes reports from KQED’s Spencer Whitney and Bay City News.

The post ‘We’re Transferring in’: California Lawyer Basic Launches Investigation Into Antioch Police Division After Racist Texting Scandal appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has launched a new investigation to get to the bottom of San Francisco’s infamously long permit approval times. Developers commonly cite approval times as a pain point in trying to build in the city, and the investigation will aim to understand and alleviate the problem, along with the high cost of building in the city.

Gustavo Velasquez, HCD Director, said in a press release that the state is concerned about the political decision-making in San Francisco that delays and impedes the creation of new housing. The investigation should last at least 9 months, and the University of California, Berkeley Institute of Urban and Regional Development will assist the state. The goal is to increase San Francisco’s housing supply and speed up the overall process for project approval.

San Francisco has been a frequent target of bad press lately, including its dismal return-to-the-office occupancy rates compared to other California cities like San Jose. But San Francisco isn’t the only city that has struggled with building permitting delays. Cities like Dallas and Portland, Oregon, have had similar problems lately, and many stakeholders in the real estate industry are hoping public pressure and new technology can speed up the permit approval process.

The post San Francisco’s Lengthy Allow Approval Instances is Below Investigation appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has launched a new investigation to get to the bottom of San Francisco’s infamously long permit approval times. Developers commonly cite approval times as a pain point in trying to build in the city, and the investigation will aim to understand and alleviate the problem, along with the high cost of building in the city.

Gustavo Velasquez, HCD Director, said in a press release that the state is concerned about the political decision-making in San Francisco that delays and impedes the creation of new housing. The investigation should last at least 9 months, and the University of California, Berkeley Institute of Urban and Regional Development will assist the state. The goal is to increase San Francisco’s housing supply and speed up the overall process for project approval.

San Francisco has been a frequent target of bad press lately, including its dismal return-to-the-office occupancy rates compared to other California cities like San Jose. But San Francisco isn’t the only city that has struggled with building permitting delays. Cities like Dallas and Portland, Oregon, have had similar problems lately, and many stakeholders in the real estate industry are hoping public pressure and new technology can speed up the permit approval process.

The post San Francisco’s Lengthy Allow Approval Instances is Underneath Investigation appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the San Francisco Police Department this week will start renegotiating an agreement to cooperate on investigations involving police officers with the help of the state Attorney General and San Francisco’s mayor and city attorney, officials said Monday.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in a joint statement their offices will get involved to make sure the two agencies reach an agreement that addresses compliance, accountability and mutual expectations.

Such an agreement “is an important tool for advancing transparency and accountability, which are cornerstones in ensuring effective policing and fortification of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” Bonta, Breed and Chiu said.

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said in a Feb. 2 letter to District Attorney Chesa Boudin that he was terminating the agreement to cooperate in DA’s investigations of police shootings, in-custody deaths, and uses of force resulting in serious bodily injury because of concerns over the office’s impartiality.

Scott cited court testimony by an investigator with the DA’s office who said she felt pressured to sign an affidavit against an officer on trial that left out evidence that could have possibly helped the officer.

Boudin denies violating the agreement. Rachel Marshall, a spokesperson for Boudin’s office, said the agreement has room for improvement and that the DA’s office remains committed to prosecuting unlawful use of force.

We are hopeful that we will be able to reach an agreement that preserves our ability to conduct independent investigations of police use of force,” she said.

The memorandum of understanding was first reached between Scott and Boudin’s predecessor in 2019 and was renewed last year for another two years. The purpose of the agreement was to give the DA’s office the lead in criminal investigations of police and give the public confidence in decisions to charge officers.

Scott in a statement praised Bonta, Breed and Chiu’s involvement in the efforts to reach a new cooperation agreement with the DA’s office.

“Accountability and transparency must be mutually honored by both parties in agreements such as these,” Scott said in a statement.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – The San Francisco Department of Health confirmed Thursday that the House of Prime Rib had voluntarily closed to investigate complaints of alleged foodborne illnesses at the popular restaurant.

The city’s health department issued a press release Thursday saying it was “aware of ongoing online complaints and alleged foodborne illnesses related to the House of Prime Rib on 1906 Van Ness Avenue”.

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“The owner has agreed to be voluntarily accessible to the public for 24 hours from today (May 13th) so that the DPH health inspectors can ensure that the preparation of meals and the handling of food are safe and coded,” it says in the explanation.

The restaurant had been serving takeaway for much of the COVID-19 pandemic but resumed dinner service in the restaurant in March.

The announcement said the SFDPH office had a total of 22 disease complaints related to the restaurant by Thursday morning. So far, officials from the Ministry of Health have interviewed a total of 55 people as part of their investigation into possible foodborne illnesses.

“The epidemiologically-based interviews with the complainants include identification of common foods, symptoms, time from eating the meal to when they feel sick and other potential exposures,” the memo reads.

According to the department’s standard protocol, the latest complaints led SFDPH officials to conduct a food-borne illness test at the restaurant on Tuesday. This on-site inspection revealed no causal link between the observations made and the suspected foodborne diseases.

The restaurant reported on the visit on its Instagram page.

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SFDPH officials said the investigation into the diseases associated with the restaurants was ongoing and noted that the department would track any additional reports of foodborne illnesses.

“We are working closely with the restaurant owner to identify possible problems in the facility that could lead to foodborne diseases,” the statement said.

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The department also noted that it is informed through a variety of private online websites sharing experiences and complaints about foodborne diseases. However, anyone who has symptoms of a foodborne illness is strongly encouraged to submit a formal report on the San Francisco Department of Public Health website.

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