A routine Sunday evening in San Francisco’s Ingleside neighborhood turned tragic in late October when a pedestrian was struck and killed in a crosswalk, and the driver allegedly kept going. What started as a hit-and-run investigation has since escalated into something far more serious: a murder charge, a rarity in cases involving impaired driving.
The man accused, 48-year-old Hai Van Le of San Francisco, was taken into custody the night of the crash and has now been formally charged by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. Prosecutors say the case hinges on dashcam footage from a witness that allegedly shows exactly what happened at the intersection, and it’s the kind of evidence that tends to leave little room for interpretation.
For car enthusiasts, cases like this hit differently. Most of us who love cars also understand the weight that comes with driving one. A vehicle is not just a machine for getting from point A to point B. It is several thousand pounds of steel capable of ending a life in an instant, and stories like this one are a sober reminder of why the basics, sobriety and situational awareness, are non-negotiable…