On April 4, 2023, a driver in his 80s killed champion cyclist Ethan Boyes while he rode his bike in the Presidio. The driver, Arnold Low, later received home confinement, probation and a fine, but no prison time. After the sentencing, Boyes’ partner said it felt like the driver was “getting off with nothing.”
Less than a year later, a driver in her late 70s lost control of her car in West Portal and killed a family of four, including a toddler and a baby. And now that driver, Mary Fong Lau, has received similarly shocking punishment. Judge Bruce Chan sentenced her to probation Friday saying that putting her behind bars would amount to “mere vengeance” and that she would have to live with the consequences of what she had done without going to prison.
Two different neighborhoods. Two different families. Two different crashes. Yet the same questions: Why are our residents dying in San Francisco’s streets, and why aren’t drivers being held accountable?…