1 Dead, 13 Injured In Hit-And-Run Spree

Aug. 29 -- A driver targeted pedestrians on both sides of San Francisco Bay with his sport utility vehicle Tuesday, killing one man and injuring at least 13 people, authorities said.

"He drove on sidewalks, streets, hit people on crosswalks. It runs the gamut," said Sgt. Neville Gittens, spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department.

The man was arrested when police boxed him in with their cruisers around 1 p.m. near the Presidio after he struck people in 12 different locations around the city.

The driver's name was not immediately released, but Department of Motor Vehicles records show the license plate on the SUV registered to Omeed A. Popal of Fremont. An aide to the mayor who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the open investigation said Popal was the suspect in custody.

Court and property records list Popal's age as 29 and he is a member of Fremont's large Afghan community. A woman who identified herself as his cousin said he was having recurring nightmares about someone coming to kill him and had been taking medication.

"He thought the devil was coming to him," said Zargona Ramish, who went to the family's home Tuesday afternoon while Popal's relatives were speaking with police. "He is a very good person. He is not like that. What's wrong with him?"

The spree began around noon in Fremont, in the East Bay, where an unidentified man walking along the side of the road was hit by a black Honda SUV. He was thrown into a field and pronounced dead at the scene, Sgt. Chris Mazzone of the Fremont police said.

Witnesses said the driver did not slow down.

He then crossed the bay into San Francisco, where he injured at least 13 people during a 20-minute hit-and-run spree, police said.

The victims were taken to three area hospitals. One was in critical condition at San Francisco General, where Mayor Gavin Newsom met with victims and their families.

"These are the things, these are so senseless. They're utterly inexplicable. They're impossible to rationalize," Newsom said afterward. "The fact that this individual felt compelled for whatever reason to be determined to do what he did is beyond imagination."

The rampage ended when police arrested the man identified as Popal in the city's Presidio Heights district. The black Honda Pilot was still in the middle of the street there an hour later, its front end and windshield smashed in.

The mayhem left a scattered trail on sidewalks and streets. White sheets covered a bloodstained patch of concrete. A broken pair of eyeglasses lay in the middle of the road among a collection of evidence markers. And a lone running shoe sat on the asphalt cordoned off by yellow tape.

Some of the injured were pedestrians and some were motorists. They included a 13-year-old and an 84-year-old, authorities said. Daniel Fulford, a bartender at Frankie's Bohemian Cafe, was tending to customers when he heard tires screeching and saw the black SUV careening around a corner.

"I heard his tires," he said. "Then I heard a couple of thuds. I looked out and saw a couple of people lying in the middle of the street. They were just pedestrians walking."

As bystanders began gathering around the hit-and-run victims, the SUV came back around, swerving and knocking over newspaper boxes on the sidewalk, Fulford said.

"Everybody started freaking out, getting out of the street," he said. "That car was like a weapon. He could have come right at us."

Jennifer Sawle, 33, was on her lunch break when she saw the suspect sitting on the curb after police had arrested him. He "had a glazed look on his face" and showed "no emotion," she said.

According to property records, Popal had also lived in Hayward and the Central Valley community of Ceres. Neighbors said he was living in Fremont with his parents.

Ramish said her cousin got married in Afghanistan about a month ago, but that his bride had not yet been able to come to California.

Fremont is home to the nation's largest Afghan community. Parween Amiri, 34, who knows Popal's family, worried about what Popal's arrest might mean for other area Afghans.

"I can't believe an Afghan would do that? The kids grow up here and some of them change," Amiri said. "They are not Afghan anymore."

No weapons were found on the suspect, though the car had not been searched, Gittens said. There was no information on whether drugs or alcohol were involved, and it was unclear how fast he was driving, he said.

"It was very chaotic," he said. "Fortunately, we were able to take him into custody."

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