SAN FRANCISCO—A bicyclist was struck and killed by a San Francisco Police Department patrol car near John McLaren Park late on June 5.
The accident took place at approximately 9 p.m. at a bend in Persia Avenue near the crossing of Sunnydale Avenue.
Immediately after the crash, the officers called for an ambulance. Paramedics responded to the scene, where they pronounced the unidentified bicyclist dead.
For their part, the policemen sustained no bodily injuries in the accident.
Per San Francisco Police Department spokesman Albie Esparza, the officers in the vehicle were on a routine patrol, were not driving abnormally, and did not have their sirens activated at the time of the crash.
The scene of the accident was shrouded in darkness and Fire Department officers were called-in with special flashlights to help conduct the immediate investigation.
“I don’t think it would be too safe to ride a bike through here at night,” said local resident Alejandra Vasquez in an interview with SFGate. “During the day, maybe. But when the police have to go where they have to go, they’re going pretty fast.”
No details have been released noting rather the bicyclist collided with the patrol vehicle or the patrol vehicle collided with the bicyclist.
The SFPD will conduct a thorough investigation that will include a toxicology sample of the officer who was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.
