San Francisco woman is hit by driver at intersection before being run over by driverless cruise vehicle that stopped on top of her for 30 MINUTES as she screamed for help
A California woman is being treated for “multiple traumatic injuries” after she was struck by a driver at an intersection in San Francisco before becoming trapped under a self-driving Cruise car for 30 minutes.
The woman, who has not yet been named, was strolling through downtown San Francisco when she was struck by a sedan at the corner of Fifth and Market streets Monday evening around 9:30 p.m.
Images taken by the cruise vehicle and watched by NBC, revealed how the car hit the woman in the left lane, throwing her into the path of the Cruise taxi, which then ran her over. The driver of the sedan then fled the scene.
First responders found the woman trapped under the autonomous vehicle, which was not carrying passengers at the time.
Shocking footage posted on social media shows the victim’s feet sticking out from under the white vehicle as a first responder checks on her.
Shocking images posted to social media show the victim’s feet poking out from under the white vehicle beneath the orange Cruise logo
Firefighters arrived and alerted Cruise to the situation by jamming the vehicle’s sensors
Footage shows police officers trying to communicate with the trapped woman, with one officer kneeling on the sidewalk and a light shining under the car.
Other officers were seen directing traffic and securing the scene.
Firefighters arrived and alerted Cruise to the situation by jamming the vehicle’s sensors.
Cruise representatives responded to firefighters and “immediately disabled the car remotely,” Capt. Justin Schorr of the San Francisco Fire Department said Monday evening.
Firefighters then used the “jaws of life” to lift the car off the woman, who was then transported to San Francisco General Hospital with “multiple traumatic injuries,” Schorr said.
A witness, Austin Tutone, told the San Francisco Chronicle how he saw the woman trapped under the Cruise car and tried to reassure her as they waited for first responders.
“I told her, ‘The ambulance is coming’ and that she would be fine. She just screamed,” he told the outlet.
In a statement on X/Twitter, Cruise said: “A human-powered vehicle struck a pedestrian while in the roadway immediately to the left of a Cruise AV.
Footage of the incident showed other officers directing traffic and cordoning off the accident scene
Emergency services tried to free the woman who was taken to hospital on Monday evening
Cruise representatives responded to firefighters and “immediately disabled the car remotely,” Capt. Justin Schorr of the San Francisco Fire Department said Monday evening.
‘The initial impact was violent and launched the pedestrian directly in front of the AV.
‘The AV then braked aggressively to minimize the impact. The driver of the other vehicle fled the scene and the AV was held at the scene at the request of police.
Adding: ‘Our genuine concern and focus is the welfare of the person who has been injured and we are actively working with police to help identify the driver responsible.’
Monday’s accident is the latest in a series of incidents involving Cruise’s autonomous vehicles in the Bay City.
Last month, two driverless Cruise taxis blocked an ambulance carrying a seriously injured car crash victim, who later died in hospital.
Fire officials said two of the self-driving cars stalled, delaying the ambulance on August 14.
According to fire officials, when crews arrived on scene, the only lane they could use was blocked by two cruise cars that had stopped moving, causing delays.
In response, the company hit back at firefighters, saying they were not responsible for the delay, the latest in a series of problems for self-driving cars, including a car colliding with a fire truck.
The company spokesperson told DailyMail.com: ‘On August 14, two Cruise AVs encountered an active emergency at an intersection where a pedestrian had been struck by a human-driven car.
In response, the company refuted the fire department’s account of what happened on August 14
Cruise has been forced to halve its fleet of robotaxis after one of their vehicles crashed into a fire truck in San Francisco while a passenger was on board
“The first vehicle immediately leaves the area as soon as the light turns green and the other vehicle stops in the lane to yield the right of way to first responders directing traffic.
‘During the entire duration that the AV is stationary, traffic remains free and flows to the right of the AV.’
The statement continues: ‘The ambulance behind the AV had a clear path to pass the AV while other vehicles, including another ambulance, did so.
“Once the victim was loaded into the ambulance, the ambulance immediately left the scene and was never hindered by the AV.”
It comes after General Motors announced it would cut its fleet of cruise cars by half after one crashed into a fire truck.
On August 21, the cruise vehicle got the green light, entered an intersection and was struck by the emergency vehicle responding to a call.
The week before, another driverless vehicle from Cruise drove straight into wet cement and got stuck.
In another incident, 10 self-driving cars stopped working near a music festival in San Francisco’s North Beach, causing a massive traffic jam that the company blamed on “wireless connectivity issues.”