ELK GROVE (CBS13) — Officers say speed was likely a factor in a three-car crash that sent four people to the hospital early Wednesday morning. The crash happened just after 2 a.m. on eastbound Laguna Boulevard, near Santorini Drive. READ MORE: Man Found In North Sacramento With Serious Hand Injury From Possible Illegal Fireworks 3 car crash shuts down Laguna Blvd East near Franklin. @CBSSacramento @GoodDaySac pic.twitter.com/RuZGIN4LWc — Rachel Wulff (@rachelwulff) June 16, 2021 READ MORE: City Hall Hire Skyler Henry Prompts Unusual Promise Of No Threat To Colleagues Safety Exactly what led up to the crash is unclear, but authorities said high speeds were involved. A total of three vehicles ended up crashing – with the cars taking out some trees and a light pole in the process. Witnesses at the scene also reported seeing one driver ejected. Four people were taken to the hospital after the crash. No updates on their conditions have been given at this … [Read more...]

With eight hours left in a calamitous year, a stolen car sped through downtown San Francisco. Inside the gray Honda HR-V, police say, was a pistol with an extended ammunition magazine, a cash register belonging to a vegan bakery and an intoxicated man on parole. He’d used the gun, they say, to steal the vehicle that provided the getaway from the bakery. Troy McAlister, 45, had been in and out of jail and prison since he was a teenager — his most recent arrest just 11 days earlier. Blocks away, at Second Street, two women walked alone, tracing separate paths through a neighborhood transformed by the tech industry. One of them, Hanako Abe, 27, had come here to be part of that energy. The corporate real estate analyst from Japan lived in an apartment a half mile away, overcoming memories of an earthquake in her hometown, Fukushima, to seize opportunity in San Francisco. Now, late on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, she was shopping for ingredients to bake her roommate a cheesecake. … [Read more...]

2 Mayor London Breed on Thursday denounced San Francisco’s criminal justice system, saying it failed to prevent the New Year’s Eve hit-and-run crash that killed two women. Addressing the case of Troy Ramon McAlister, who was on parole when he allegedly struck and killed pedestrians Hanako Abe and Elizabeth Platt at Second and Mission streets in a stolen car, Breed said — without naming anyone — that the criminal justice system could have prevented the death by holding McAlister accountable for crimes. “Had this person been held accountable for the numerous crimes that they committed, then this possibly would not have happened,” Breed told the Chinese-language newspaper World Journal in a video interview Thursday night. The mayor’s comments came as District Attorney Chesa Boudin has been criticized for not filing charges against McAlister after several arrests in the months prior to the crash, including for car theft and auto burglary. Boudin said he … [Read more...]

The parolee accused of fatally striking two pedestrians in downtown San Francisco on New Year’s Eve, speeding through a red light in a stolen Honda while intoxicated, allegedly swiped the car from a woman he had met on an app, leaving his date stranded outside a fast food restaurant in Daly City. According to documents obtained by The Chronicle, the woman reported the Dec. 29 theft at Nation’s Giant Hamburgers to Daly City police that afternoon — two days before the tragic collision at Second and Mission streets in the South of Market neighborhood. The woman told officers that she had been on a second date with Troy Ramon McAlister, 45, when he snatched her keys away from her at about noon as the two waited for an order of food. He peeled away in her gray 2017 Honda HR-V, she said, while giving her the middle finger. The woman gave officers McAlister’s name and address and said he had shown her a 9mm pistol with an extended ammunition magazine. Daly City police soon identified … [Read more...]

A driver accused by police of killing two pedestrians in downtown San Francisco on New Year’s Eve while intoxicated and in a stolen car is a parolee who remained free despite being arrested several times in the city in recent months, according to city officials and public records. Troy Ramon McAlister, a 45-year-old city resident who was released on April 10 from a state prison sentence for robbery, was not charged with new crimes by the District Attorney’s Office after any of last year’s arrests, the most recent of which occurred on Dec. 20. District Attorney Chesa Boudin said his office opted instead to refer each case to state parole agents, who can seek to imprison those who violate the terms of their release. “We referred these cases to parole because we believed there was a greater likelihood of him being held accountable and having the kind of intervention that would protect the public and break this cycle of recidivism,” Boudin said. He later acknowledged that … [Read more...]

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The theatre community is mourning the death of actress Lisa Banes, who succumbed to her injuries Monday following a hit-and-run involving a scooter earlier this month on the Upper West Side . Her death comes as pedestrian-related traffic fatalities have increased across the city, and as newer and more mobile modes of transportation flood the streets, CBS2’s Christina Fan reported Tuesday. READ MORE: FBI: Kidnapping Suspect Killed During Confrontation In Leonia, N.J. She was known for her roles in “Gone Girl” and “A Cure for Wellness,” but Banes is best remembered by friends for her magnetism and kindness. Ten days after she was hit by a scooter driver, the 65-year-old actress succumbed to traumatic head injuries. The driver who killed her is still on the run. Banes was crossing Amsterdam Avenue at West 64th Street on June 4, when a scooter ran a red light, knocking over the actress, who had the right of way. Her death is one of 60 pedestrian … [Read more...]

2 The San Francisco man accused of killing two women after speeding through a red light in a stolen car on New Year’s Eve pleaded not guilty Tuesday to an array of charges as a judge ordered him to remain in jail. Troy Ramon McAlister, 45, was on parole when he allegedly plowed into pedestrians Hanako Abe and Elizabeth Platt at Second and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco. Prosecutors believe McAlister had methamphetamine and alcohol in his system and was armed with a pistol at the time of the deadly collision, and say he attempted to flee the scene on foot. District Attorney Chesa Boudin charged McAlister with two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter as well as a score of other felonies including possession of a gun, driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, leaving the scene of a collision and driving a stolen vehicle. McAlister could spend more than three decades in prison if convicted on all charges, prosecutors said. San … [Read more...]

With jobs rebounding and isolation-weary Americans opening the spending spigots, the economy seems well on its way back from the costly setbacks during the Pandemic. There may be some long-term economic casualties — small businesses that shuttered permanently, maybe commercial real estate — but the outlook is a return to the pre-COVID situation in a year or so. Much more worrisome is recovering from the catastrophic social costs: young kids missing a full year of school; a sharp rise in drug overdoses; horrendous stories of spousal and child abuse. All these disproportionately hurt poorer families. ADVERTISEMENT The only way to alleviate the long-term consequences will require more resources from the federal, state and local governments. The scars are so deep it can't be done on the cheap. The missed in-person school time, especially for young children, will have an “ absolutely stunningly large economic cost that just keeps piling up ” predicts Eric Hanushek, a … [Read more...]