Two pedestrians were killed on San Francisco Streets on New Year’s Eve and the drivers involved in both of those crashes have been arrested.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that at least one of the drivers worked for Uber.
The Uber driver was 57-year-old Syed Muzaffar, of Union City. Authorities say that he ran over a mother and her two children as they crossed a street near the Civic Center. A police spokesman said that this incident left a 4-year-old girl dead and injured her brother and mother.
Muzaffar was arrested and may be charged with vehicular manslaughter and failure to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, among other things.
Accidents involving Uber drivers have created some highly complex legal issues in cities around the country. Most customers believe that Uber drivers are employees of the company, which allows customers to order town cars using their cellphones. Uber characterizes itself as a dispatch app and maintains that all of its drivers are independent contractors.
An Uber spokesperson says that the company suspended Muzaffar after the accident and that he was not carrying an Uber customer at the time of the accident.
The second accident involved a Ford pickup who ran over an elderly pedestrian at the intersection of Naples and Rolph streets in San Francisco’s Crocker-Amazon neighborhood.
The victim in that accident was Zhen Guang Ng, of San Francisco and the driver was hotelier Giampaolo Boschetti, Bay City News reports. Boschetti reportedly owns the Aida Plaza Hotel on 1087 Market Street.
Boschetti was arrested for running a stop sign and vehicular manslaughter.
The Dolan Law Firm handles traffic accident cases in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area. If you or a loved one has been injured in a traffic accident, call 415-636-8160.
