A cat known as the “mayor of 16th Street” was allegedly run over by a Waymo autonomous vehicle, according to the cat’s owner, sparking grief around the Mission Dolores bodega where he roamed.
KitKat, a feline fixture at Randa’s Market, was struck by the robotaxi around 11:30 p.m. Monday, said the shop’s owner, Mike Zeidan. The cat was last seen on the sidewalk next to a transit lane, according to an anonymous complaint filed with the city’s 311 system.
The complaint alleged that the driverless car had made a stop near the market. The free-range KitKat was found underneath the vehicle, according to Zeidan. The cat was pronounced dead after being taken to an animal hospital by a store employee.
“Honestly, man, it’s difficult. He was a one-of-a-kind cat. He brought joy to so many people,” Zeidan said of the 9-year-old cat. “People loved him.”
The 311 complaint filed early Tuesday claimed that the Waymo did not slow down, swerve, or attempt to avoid the cat. “Waymo’s [sic] should not be on the street if they can’t spot small animals in the dark,” the complaint stated.
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Waymo did not respond to a request for comment.
The state had logged 884 autonomous vehicle collision reports as of Friday, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles (opens in new tab). A dog was struck and killed by a Waymo in Bernal Heights in 2023. A week later, a Labrador survived getting hit by a Cruise self-driving car; the company no longer tests its cars in San Francisco.
The death of KitKat prompted an outpouring of grief on Instagram (opens in new tab), with dozens of customers and neighbors sharing memories of encountering him prowling the block. One commenter called him “the best pit stop on my walk to work every morning.”
KitKat arrived at the market six years ago as a solution to a persistent rodent problem, Zeidan said. The cat had been a stray until he was fed and cared for by a neighbor. KitKat came to reside in the store because the neighbor had a family member who was allergic to cats.
What began as a practical arrangement quickly became something deeper. KitKat’s image appeared prominently on the store’s Yelp page and was featured regularly on its Instagram account.
“He was a special guest,” Zeidan said. “Made for a store like this. Friendly with everybody, and not afraid of dogs or anything.”
By Tuesday afternoon, flowers and candles appeared outside Randa’s Market as neighbors paid their respects to the cat they called the “Mayor of 16th Street.”
At the neighboring Roxie Theater, Rick Norris said staff members were grieving the loss.
“Only Mike at Randa’s, the most righteous merchant on the 16th/Valencia corridor, could have found and raised such an award-winning, neighborhood-loved critter as cool as our kitty, KitKat,” Norris said Tuesday in an email offering condolences. “Those two were perfectly paired, and we mourn his (our) loss of a creature that absolutely elevated the quality of life in our corner of the Mission.”
Margarita Lara, who lives nearby and works at the bar Delirium, pointed to a donation jar to cover costs for flowers. “By tomorrow, there’ll be a full-on altar, and as Day of the Dead comes, it’ll grow and grow,” she said. “Sixteenth Street will not be the same. As I walked from near Mission Street to here with the candles and the flowers this morning, everyone knew who it was for. Everyone bowed their heads with KitKat.”