An infant who was severely injured in a horrific wrong-way crash that killed his parents and young brother on Saturday at a West Portal bus stop has died from his injuries, an official said Wednesday night.
Supervisor Myrna Melgar and San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott confirmed the baby boy’s death. The baby had been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries in the crash, which also killed his parents and 1-year-old brother.
“I have no words,” Melgar told The Standard. “Just think of the trauma of the community. And so we were all thinking, ‘Oh, this poor child,’ you know, now as an orphan, and now that the entire family’s gone. The entire family is just … I couldn’t stop crying Saturday night. I was still just distraught.”
Family members were identified by officials Tuesday as Brazilian national Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, 40, and 1-year-old Joaquin Ramos Pinto de Oliveira, who died at the scene of the crash at Ulloa Street and Lenox Way. The boy’s mother, Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto, 38, died later in hospital.
In a statement provided by the Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco on Thursday, relatives identified the baby boy as Cauê Ramos Pinto de Oliveira and said the family was on their way to the zoo when they were run over at the bus stop.
“Little Cauê was a fighter and our hero; his organs were donated and will serve to save the lives of other children,” the relatives said. “Diego and Matilde were warm and loving parents who had a deep love for their beautiful children and enjoyed nothing more than spending time with their two little boys.”
They described the couple as “the kind of people everyone loved to be around.”
“The outpouring of love and grief from all over the world, which has greatly moved us, is a testament to this,” they said. “We loved Diego, Matilde, Joaquim, and Cauê deeply and are sure the love they showed to their family and friends will serve as their legacy.”
Scott told the Police Commission on Wednesday night that two of the individuals who were transported to the hospital have since died.
“This was a horrific incident and heartbreaking,” Scott said.
The driver, identified as Mary Fong Lau, was initially booked on three counts of vehicular manslaughter, two reckless driving offenses, driving on the wrong side of the road and driving at an unsafe speed, records show. Lau was no longer in the booking system as of Wednesday and was still at the hospital for treatment, according to her attorney.
Charges have yet to be filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, as it awaits toxicology results and an examination of the vehicle’s mechanics.
Scott told police commissioners on Wednesday that investigators have not yet done a toxicology report on the suspect, noting that she was still in the hospital.
“We don’t have that yet, but that investigation is still ongoing, so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself,” the chief said. “There’s a lot of questions out there that people want to know why and how this happened.”
Michael Barba contributed reporting.