Sep 25, 2006 8:55 pm US/Pacific
911 Calls Released In SF Hit-And-Run Rampage
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
In newly released audio from 9-1-1 calls made on Aug. 29, witnesses tell the story of a horrific hit-and-run rampage that injured 18 pedestrians across the city -- as it was unfolding right before their eyes.
It was carnage on the street. But the 9-1-1 calls coming in from eyewitnesses, victims, and motorists, were incredibly calm at first.
9-1-1 operator: San Francisco 9-1-1.
Caller: Hi, I want to report a hit-and-run. I'm at the scene. It's Sacramento and Polk...
9-1-1 operator: Is anybody injured?
Caller: Yeah, he's a little injured. He's bleeding on his hand.
9-1-1 operator: A pedestrian?
Caller: Yeah.
9-1-1 operator: And the car that hit him is where?
Caller: He just took off. But I actually got a picture of it on my cell phone...He went east on Sacramento from Polk, and he plowed into a pedestrian, and then he just sped off.
Another minute passes and a motorist on McAllister and Polk streets gets police on the line.
Police dispatcher: San Francisco police.
Caller: Yeah, I just wanted to report a hit-and-run, and I was just trying to follow the offending car that ran over a pedestrian.
Police dispatcher: Hit a pedestrian?
Caller: Yep.
Police dispatcher: Alright, where is the pedestrian at? Does he need an ambulance?
Caller: I don't know... I know that other people were staying with the pedestrian. He actually got up.
Just two minutes later, the calls become more frantic and the suspect is spotted at Sacramento and Steiner streets.
9-1-1 operator: San Francisco 9-1-1. What is the exact location of your emergency?
Caller: There's a black, like, Expedition... Black Explorer, cracked windshield, driving around the street like a crazy man, almost coming close to running down people.
Seconds later, two people the suspect was allegedly aiming for got on their phones at Clay and Steiner streets.
Caller: I didn't see the license plate, but he's circling around. The front of the window is completely smashed, and I think he just lost it. He was trying to run us down on the pedestrian walkway, and he keeps circling around.
In one recording, the sound of the suspect's car driving right past a witness is heard.
Caller: The pedestrian is still down. Oh my God, here he comes again! Good lord...He just drove down the street again, down Sutter. I think he hit somebody else...I'm going to get out of the way here...Looks like somebody else has gotten hit.
The system recorded 252 calls in just 14 minutes.
The day after the rampage, 9-1-1 emergency operators said they knew they had what was called a "Condition Red" alert after the first few calls.
"Call-takers, within first eight to 10 minutes, knew they had multiple events, one suspect in this case initiating this," said San Francisco Emergency Communications Department Executive Director Laura Phillips. "It was coming together pretty well."
The suspect in the hit-and-run rampage is Omeed Aziz Popal, 29.
Popal faces life in prison if convicted of the charges against him: 18 separate felony counts of attempted murder, 18 felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon -- his black Honda Pilot -- and one count each of felony battery of a police officer and reckless evasion causing injuries, according to the district attorney's office.
Police say Popal intentionally tried to run down pedestrians across the city. He is also suspected of striking and killing a pedestrian in Fremont before heading to San Francisco, a charge he is expected to face later in Alameda County.
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