An alleged drunk driver who fatally struck a 17-year-old girl in San Francisco last weekend is set to make his initial appearance in court on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Kieran Brewer, 29, will be arraigned Wednesday afternoon on vehicular manslaughter and felony DUI charges for the death of 17-year-old Henren Chang, who was struck while crossing Sloat Boulevard at Vale Avenue near Stern Grove at about 11:20 p.m. Saturday.
The death of Chang, a junior at nearby Lowell High School and a member of the school’s track team, has been marked at an impromptu memorial at the intersection where she was struck and by her track teammates, who will wear black ribbons to their next meet.
Members of the Board of Supervisors also mourned her death at this afternoon’s meeting.
Supervisor Katy Tang, a Lowell High School alumna, asked that the meeting be adjourned in the memory of Chang, who she said should be remembered as “a happy person, a great student and a good friend.”
In an unfortunate bit of timing, the board today unanimously approved retroactively accepting and expending a $797,000 federal grant for pedestrian safety improvements on Sloat Boulevard.
The grant will help make improvements at three intersections with Sloat Boulevard–Everglade Drive, Forest View Drive and 23rd Avenue–all near where Chang was struck.
Supervisor Norman Yee, who sponsored the legislation, said it would help “to never have to be in this situation again.”
The improvements, which will take place through January 2016, include widening the median on Sloat Boulevard to reduce the distance pedestrians have to cross in front of traffic at the intersections, which are not protected by stop lights or signs.
There have been other deaths in that area of Sloat in recent years, including 54-year-old Feng Lian Zhu, who was killed there in January 2010.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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