Video: Car plummets over Sanchez Street steps in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO -- It's the kind of crash you might see in a Hollywood movie.
A car barreled through a guardrail on a dead-end street in San Francisco's Dolores Heights, flew down an embankment, knocked down a tree and landed upside down. It happened at 19th and Sanchez Streets around 7:20 p.m. on Saturday.
A neighbor described the scene to KPIX.
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"There was a woman pulling out a guy, all bloody, and the guy had a full face mask, all black, dressed in black. She was in black, red hair, yelling at them, 'We have three minutes till the cops come! We have three minutes, hurry up!'" said Michael Perez who lives nearby. "There was another guy and there was another guy still stuck in the car and they were, like, 'Just leave him! Leave him!"
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San Francisco police said everyone inside the car fled the scene and officers have, so far, not located them.
Perez was among several neighbors who rushed over to help the crashed vehicle's occupants.
"We saw what was going on. There was bottles of alcohol pouring out of their car and they were all bloodied and you could tell they were up to no good," Perez said. "They were vandals. You could tell by the way they were dressed, spilling out of their car. They didn't want our help. She said, 'Don't touch me!'"
Giorgi Kvirkvia was working on a car by his garage when he heard the noise. He also rushed over to the scene and he spoke to a man who said he had just been carjacked.
"According to him, they basically kicked him out of his car -- a couple of minutes before -- somewhere down the block," he said. "He kind of fought them and, in the end, they hit him in the head, I think, with a gun. That's what he said. When they were fighting his shirt got torn and I saw that his shirt was torn."
Kvirkvia said police told him they also found a gun at the scene.
"I think it's a great example of how the lawlessness in San Francisco has real impact on the actual citizens and neighbors who live in the city," he said. "And so, I hope this is a little bit of a wakeup call to our politicians that we need to prosecute crimes, have more police officers."
Dave, who declined to give his last name, was reading a bedtime story to his daughter when he heard the collision.
"Later on the (security) camera I found out that I passed directly past two of the perpetrators or two of the victims, whatever you want to call them. As they came up the steps, I went down the steps but, in the chaos, no one really noticed," he said.
Perez said he had painted a mural on the steps to beautify the neighborhood and deter graffiti.
"Very easily it could have been me. I still have paint on my hands from the last time I painted this," he said looking at the scene.
Luckily, no passersby were injured.
"I'm scared. I live a couple houses down and I don't want this to be happening in my neighborhood, let alone San Francisco," Perez said.
CAUGHT ON CAMERA
A video clip from a Nest camera posted by YouTube user Julia Brown showed the otherwise quiet intersection near Dolores Park and the Castro District in what appears to be late afternoon or early evening when the car suddenly plummets from the top of the stairs at the 1:27 mark.
The white four-door sedan flips after roaring over the top of the hill, knocking down a tree and hitting a parked car as it lands on its roof. A bystander runs up to the car and forces open one of the doors, helping one of the people in the vehicle get out.
A number of people are seen leaving the vehicle. None of them remain at the scene as a San Francisco Fire Department unit arrives a few minutes later.
A second posted clip shows the car plowing through the railing at the top of the stairs where Cumberland dead ends.
The San Francisco Fire Department tweeted about the crash Sunday morning in response "to the many media outlets calling" about the incident. Fire personnel helped secure the area as a tow truck removed the vehicle.
Police said it remains an open and active investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
