Police and firefighters worked feverishly to rescue a pedestrian accident victim who was pinned by a Muni bus in the Mission District Sunday. The man was struck by the bus at the intersection of Fifth and Mission streets in San Francisco around 12:19 p.m. The man was pinned under two tires after the pedestrian accident. Emergency personnel used wooden planks to lift the bus of the accident victim. Authorities say the man pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital.
Although the facts surrounding the accident remain under investigation, early news reports indicate that the man stepped in front of the bus around the time the vehicle pulled out of the bus zone. The man was struck by the 14-L bus, which rolled over the pedestrian’s legs.
A man was across the street at the Hub when the accident occurred. He says he noticed some sort of commotion going on and ran out to see what had happened. The man says he saw the victim’s legs sticking out from under the bus just after the accident. The witness told the San Francisco Chronicle that he does not believe the driver realized the bus had hit the pedestrian at first.
One woman called 911 and two witnesses, including the man who was investigating the commotion reportedly climbed under the bus before emergency responders arrived. The Good Samaritans found the victim’s right leg pinned under the bus. The witness who spoke with the newspaper says he just held the victim’s hand after the accident and kept telling the victim to breathe.
Sources indicate that the man was apparently on his way to work at the time of the accident. He was wearing his security guard uniform; his lunch bag was found on the ground at the scene of the accident.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, “Man struck by Muni bus dies,” Casey Newton, Nov. 14, 2011
