A driver crashed through the front of a store in San Francisco’s SoMa on Friday. | Source: Philip Pacheco for The Standard
The San Francisco Police Department taped off a traffic circle in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood late Friday afternoon after a truck drove through a store.
Jeff Loventhal said he was parked on Eighth Street near the intersection with Townsend Street just after 5 p.m. when his Mercedes sedan was struck from behind by a car going about 30 miles per hour.
“It hit about seven or eight cars,” Loventhal said.
The driver of the vehicle allegedly struck other cars as well. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard
Loventhal said after the truck drove through Eighth Street, crashing into several cars, it drove through Townsend Street into the entrance of a Roche Bobois store.
San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Mariano Elias said the department received a report of a car crashing into a building at Eighth and Townsend streets at 4:54 p.m. Friday.
A driver crashed through the front of a store in San Francisco's SoMa on Friday. | Source: Philip Pacheco for The Standard
Elias confirmed the driver of the truck crashed into a pedestrian standing on the sidewalk when it crashed into the building.
Both the driver and pedestrian were transported to the hospital with minor injuries, Elias said.
It is unknown whether the driver who crashed through the storefront was impaired due to drugs or alcohol. | Source: Philip Pacheco for The Standard
It is unknown whether the driver was impaired due to drugs or alcohol.
The San Francisco Police Department, which is investigating the crash, said officers found the vehicle "stopped inside of a building with the driver still inside" when they arrived.
"Officers rendered aid and summoned paramedics to the scene since the driver appeared unresponsive," a spokesperson for the department said. "The driver was transported to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and was detained for further investigation."
Police said witnesses told them that a pedestrian had been hit by the vehicle prior to it colliding into the building.
Officers also learned that the suspect had struck an occupied vehicle in the area of Eighth and Harrison streets, fled from the scene, and continued traveling southbound on Eighth Street towards Townsend Street, SFPD said.
"The two occupants in that vehicle had non-life-threatening injuries and were treated at the scene," according to a statement from the department.
"The suspect then struck one unoccupied vehicle and two occupied vehicles before colliding with the pedestrian and into the building," the department added. "The occupants in both vehicles had no reports of injuries at the time."
This story has been updated with information from the San Francisco Fire Department and San Francisco Police Department.
