How San Francisco police investigate traffic collisions causing death or serious injuries to bicyclists and pedestrians is the topic of a Board of Supervisors committee hearing Thursday at City Hall.
Supervisor Jane Kim called for the hearing, being held at 10 a.m. at the board’s neighborhood services and safety committee, after controversy arose over how police handled the case of Amelie Le Moullac, a bicyclist who was fatally struck by a truck in the city’s South of Market neighborhood in August.
Le Moullac, 24, was run over by a truck making a right turn at Sixth and Folsom streets on the morning of Aug. 14.
Police initially did not cite the truck driver, but later found him at fault after a member of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition found surveillance video of the crash captured from a nearby business.
The bicycle coalition criticized the department for not finding the video and for the actions of a police sergeant at a memorial event the coalition held a week after Le Moullac’s death.
The sergeant stopped at the event, blocking the bike path, and said Le Moullac was to blame for the collision. Police Chief Greg Suhr later apologized for the sergeant’s actions and said the incident would be reviewed by the city’s Office of Citizen Complaints.
Kim said last month that Thursday’s hearing will not include “finger-pointing” about the Le Moullac case but would instead focus on police protocols in similar cases, including how the department takes into account the needs of a victim or their family.
Although police found the truck driver at fault for the Aug. 14 collision, he has not been arrested or charged in the case.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
