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San Francisco Chronicle
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- San Francisco Chronicle
What caused a deadly crash in San Francisco — a ‘madman' driver or a ‘malfunctioning' Tesla?
The Tesla hurtled down the Interstate 280 offramp to Sixth Street, sideswiping three vehicles along the way. It picked up speed, running red lights and nearly touching 90 mph as it raced northwest toward downtown San Francisco. At Sixth and Harrison, the Tesla Model Y slammed into a Lexus at a stoplight, then spun into oncoming traffic. Seven people were injured, one of whom described the impact of the crash as an explosion. The driver of the Lexus, San Francisco resident Mikhael Romanenko, was killed. Witnesses would later describe the car to police as a 'black blur' and the driver 'a madman,' according to a police report. But as the Tesla's driver, Jia Lin Zheng, 66, was being treated for his own injuries in the wake of the Jan. 19 crash, he offered a chilling explanation: The car, he told police, had accelerated on its own. 'The Tesla malfunctioned and began to speed up' as he exited the highway, San Francisco police wrote in a report, describing Zheng's account. 'Zheng stated every time he stepped on the brake of the Tesla, he felt the car accelerate.' Drivers have reported incidents of what is known as sudden unintended acceleration for decades, and for an array of vehicle makes and models. While the accelerations can be triggered by a mechanical defect or electrical failure, they can also be the result of driver error, such as mistaking the gas and brake pedals. But the claim by Zheng — who has a history of speeding tickets, records show — echoed those of a long line of Tesla drivers, who over the last several years have reported the cars jolting forward or backward on their own. Tesla has issued few public statements on the issue, and it did not respond to the Chronicle's requests for comment for this story. But in a 2020 blog post, recent legal filings and communications with customers, the company has largely maintained that the incidents were caused by driver error, an assertion supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Following a review of nearly 250 sudden unintended acceleration claims in Teslas, the agency in 2021 published a report finding no evidence of a design factor or electrical issue with the vehicles that would cause the alleged problems. Yet, claims like Zheng's following the deadly San Francisco crash have continued accruing, with people alleging in NHTSA complaints, media interviews and social media posts that their Teslas accelerated on their own. The question remains: Is there an undiagnosed problem in some battery-driven cars featuring advanced driver-assist systems, or are the cars' drivers looking for high-tech excuses for accidentally punching the gas? NHTSA is now weighing another petition to investigate and potentially recall Tesla cars over the alleged sudden unintended acceleration problems, based on newly obtained information on the car's electrical system. The results could have weighty implications for Tesla and for the untold number of drivers who, like Zheng, face costly damage fees, lawsuits or even prison time for crashes they swear they didn't cause. A violent wreck In the moments before his death, Romanenko, his girlfriend, Linh Luu, and her 8-year-old dog were on their way to pick up Luu's family members for a trip to the airport, she said. When the Tesla smashed into the couple's car at Sixth and Harrison streets, the impact thrust their vehicle forward into an unoccupied Waymo robotaxi and several other vehicles, and sent the Tesla spiraling into a truck on the other side of the street, according to police reports. Romanenko was killed almost instantly as one side of the Lexus was torn off. Luu was hospitalized with broken bones and her dog, Keeper, was pronounced dead at the scene. Seven people from six other vehicles were injured. Police arrested Zheng on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, but city prosecutors have not made a decision on whether to charge him. According to a police report, Zheng — whose attorney declined to comment for this story — had no alcohol in his system and his vitals suggested he hadn't recently suffered from a medical episode. Anna Dubrovsky, an attorney for Romanenko's mother, Julia Romanenko, filed a wrongful death lawsuit May 21 against Zheng in San Francisco Superior Court. Zheng and his relatives had not been officially served the lawsuit as of Friday evening, Romanenko's attorneys said. The defendants declined to comment. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names Zheng's son and daughter-in-law, saying they owned the Tesla and were 'well aware of Jia Lin Zheng's tendency to drive dangerously, and at a high rate of speed, without any regard for traffic signals.' Zheng's history of traffic incidents in his home state of Hawaii include five citations for speeding, records show. Other infractions included allegedly running a red light and disobeying a traffic control sign. 'This gentleman is clearly ignoring the rules of the road and endangering people,' Dubrovsky said in an interview. That the car was a Tesla may or may not factor into the criminal investigation and lawsuit, as drivers who blame their cars for their crashes are often treated skeptically. In San Francisco, an 80-year-old woman is facing both a wrongful death lawsuit and criminal charges of felony vehicular manslaughter following a West Portal crash in March 2024 that killed a family of four, including two young children. Mary Fong Lau allegedly drove her Mercedes sport utility vehicle at high speed into an oncoming lane of traffic and then slammed into a transit shelter. Police said investigators who looked at 'every aspect' of the case couldn't find evidence that the car malfunctioned. Long-running dispute But Lau wasn't driving a Tesla. Beginning in the 2010s, high-profile allegations of sudden unintended accelerations in the company's vehicles began cropping up around the country, often covered by local news stations when the cars rammed into nail salons, gas stations and garages. Following a 2019 petition to investigate the matter and issue a recall, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigations reviewed 246 complaints made to the agency of sudden unintended acceleration — sometimes abbreviated as SUA — filed for Tesla models 3, S and X since 2013, 203 of which involved crashes. Tesla called the petition 'completely false,' stressing that the person who filed it was a short-seller of the company's stock. 'We investigate every single incident where the driver alleges to us that their vehicle accelerated contrary to their input, and in every case where we had the vehicle's data, we confirmed that the car operated as designed,' the company said in a 2020 blog. 'In other words, the car accelerates if, and only if, the driver told it to do so, and it slows or stops when the driver applies the brake.' Federal officials largely echoed this sentiment a year later after completing their review, maintaining that drivers were to blame. 'In every instance in which event data was available for review by ODI (the Office of Defects Investigations), the evidence shows that SUA crashes in the complaints cited by the petitioner have been caused by pedal misapplication,' the agency wrote in 2021. In many of the incidents reviewed by NHTSA, the car recorded that accelerators were depressed at or near 100%. Some Tesla owners and their lawyers, though, assert that a car's record of a depressed accelerator doesn't necessarily mean it was pushed down by the driver. 'Tesla takes the position that when the data shows 100% acceleration, that must mean the driver was pushing on the acceleration pedal with 100% force,' said attorney Todd Walburg, who represented family members of a Tesla driver who was killed four years ago in Ohio in what they alleged to be a crash caused by sudden unintended acceleration. 'In our view, when the 100% acceleration occurs in a situation that it just doesn't make sense,' Walburg said, 'it's more likely than not evidence of a malfunction.' In some cases, those who allege sudden unintended acceleration in Teslas contact the company directly. Tesla's response often comes as a phone call along with a letter, altered case by case to describe the specific amount of force the company says was used by the driver, according to documents posted on NHTSA's website. 'Based on this review, Tesla determined that the vehicle operated without fault and that the accelerator pedal was manually pressed by the driver immediately prior to the incident,' one letter stated. Some drivers remain unconvinced. 'Does not make logical sense that the car could accelerate 87% in a matter of 2 feet!' one Model S driver wrote in her complaint to NHTSA. 'I am 150% sure I did not hit the accelerator. I am (not someone) who may have pedal confusion.' Another: 'I contacted Tesla and was told I step on the gas 100% in under 2 second[s], and they would not claim responsibility. As I tell them I am 100% sure I did not step on anything 100% (gas or brake) when I am in a busy parking lot. They still denied and said it was my fault.' Mystery settlement Last month, as San Francisco authorities continued investigating the Sixth Street crash, Tesla attorneys signed off on what experts said may be the company's first settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit claiming sudden unintended acceleration in one of its vehicles, according to court records. While the terms of the settlement are unknown, as is whether the company accepted fault, some observers interpreted the agreement as a concession by Tesla, citing CEO Elon Musk's 2022 statement on the platform now known as X that the carmaker would 'never surrender/settle an unjust case against us, even if we will probably lose.' The suit stemmed from a fatal 2021 crash in Jeffersonville, Ohio. After passing through an intersection, Clyde Leach's Tesla Model Y hopped a curb and slammed into a gas station pillar, igniting a fire. Leach's estate alleged that the crash was due to sudden unintended acceleration, and that Tesla knew about the problem and failed to warn its customers. Tesla's attorneys maintained that Leach floored the car's accelerator. The settlement ended months of litigation over whether Tesla should be forced to turn over documents the company deemed confidential. Walburg, who represented Leach's estate, said he could not comment on the settlement or even its existence. And while Tesla has settled few cases in court, it remains unclear how claims of sudden unintended acceleration have fared in private arbitration that the company uses by contract in many disputes with customers. In the past, other car companies have acknowledged problems with sudden unintended acceleration, but these cases have generally involved physical flaws with pedals and floor mats that prompt a pedal to stay depressed. Andrew McDevitt, a San Francisco attorney who has filed lawsuits against Tesla, said it's possible that some alleged incidents of sudden unintended acceleration were caused by a mix of design flaws and user error. An uninitiated Tesla driver, he said, may accidentally activate some of the car's driver-assist features, such as cruise control. The bigger mystery, McDevitt asserted, surrounds the incidents that drivers believe are caused by an electrical malfunction, even as Tesla and the government see human error. 'The (question) most people are focused on is what would be the electrical explanation, where it truly is spontaneous,' McDevitt said. 'You didn't accidentally push the wrong lever, you didn't accidentally push the pedal, but the car took off.' Claims persist In the years following NHTSA's January 2021 report clearing Tesla of defects, at least 270 other complaints have been filed with the regulatory agency alleging that the company's vehicles accelerated without a driver's input, according to a Chronicle review of materials on the department's website. Many of the claims involved accidents; at least two resulted in a fatality. The information provided in the reports is often limited, though a few patterns emerge. Most of the complainants, for instance, said the events occurred while the cars were moving slowly, such as in parking lots or while pulling into garages. Others, however, made claims similar to those in the San Francisco case, saying they lost control while on the highway and that the brake pedal seemed to make the car go faster. Complaining parties include drivers who said they were using driver-assist modes including Autopilot, which steers the vehicle and controls its speed, as well as those who weren't. One San Jose woman said that while she was driving at about 65 mph, with Autopilot engaged, she pushed the brake pedal only to have the vehicle speed up, while the steering wheel became difficult to turn. After steering left to avoid a rear-end crash, she said, 'the vehicle's front end had crashed into the divider wall and the vehicle ricocheted across four lanes of traffic and ran off the roadway.' The woman was hospitalized with fractures to her spine and ribs. Two years ago, NHTSA agreed to take a second look at the sudden unintended acceleration allegations in Teslas, following a petition by a retired Minnesota engineer who independently reviewed the vehicles' design details. The engineer, Ronald Belt, said in his petition that the details had previously been difficult to obtain but had been posted on open-source networks. In his petition, Belt contended that some or all of the sudden unintended acceleration events may have been caused by high-voltage electrical demands on the car's battery. Further, he said, false accelerator signals may be sent to the vehicle's event data recorder, 'causing Tesla and NHTSA to conclude that the driver caused the sudden increase in torque by stepping on the accelerator pedal.' Belt, who has published research papers on auto safety, said he became interested in the phenomenon following the incidents involving Toyota cars. 'I was saddened to see how drivers were ridiculed by saying that they were the cause of the sudden acceleration by stepping on the accelerator pedal, when my engineering background in electronics told me that the vehicle electronics could have caused the sudden acceleration,' Belt said in an email to the Chronicle. Though NHTSA accepted Belt's petition in June 2023, its website still lists an 'open investigation.' A spokesperson said the agency had no updates on the case's status, but that it conducts a 'technical analysis' on all such petitions. If a petition is granted, the government opens a recall investigation. Aside from a form letter he received from the agency acknowledging his petition, Belt said NHTSA has not communicated with him. He's unaware of whether Tesla has responded to his concerns.
Scottish Sun
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Violence erupts over trans athlete AB Hernandez in California with supporter arrested for smashing car with Pride flag
TRANS FURY Violence erupts over trans athlete AB Hernandez in California with supporter arrested for smashing car with Pride flag Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) VIOLENT protests have erupted in California after a trans athlete served a crushing defeat to two female competitors at a sporting event. Trans teen AB Hernandez, 16, came first in the women's long jump and triple jump at the event in California - a defiance of Trump's executive order to ban trans athletes from women's sports. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Demonstrators hold signs outside the Veteran's Memorial Stadium during the California high school track-and-field championships in Clovis, California Credit: AP 3 A banner reading 'NO BOYS IN GIRLS' SPORTS!' is flown above Veterans' Memorial Stadium during the California high school track-and-field championships Credit: AP 3 AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley poses with a medal after winning the girls' long jump Credit: AP She also finished fourth in the high jump at the Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Masters Meet, missing out on a championship place in that event by one spot. But a crowd of angry parents confronted her mother at the event to complain that a trans girl was competing against their daughters. It has now turned into a heated row with dozens of protestors carrying out demonstrations to 'save girls sports". The protests quickly turned violent after one person was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Clovis police Sgt. Chris Hutchison told the Chronicle. Hre said the person is accused of using the base of a Pride flag to smash a car window, leaving a person injured. More protestors are expected to show up today as the sporting event continues. Yesterday, a crowd of furious high school parents berated the mother of the trans athlete after her dominant victory. The video, which has now gone viral on TikTok, shows the parents hounding Hernandez's mother for allowing her to compete. One of the parents can be heard yelling at her mother: "What a coward of a woman you are allowing that." Hernandez's story previously made headlines after another teenage girl that she beat to first place in a separate contest waited for her to descend from the podium before moving to pose in the top spot. In the TikTok, the parent can also be heard shouting: "Your mental illness is on your son, coward." But more than half of US states have implemented bans on trans youth athletes participating since 2020. In an Instagram post, Hernandez's mother said: "It takes immense bravery to show up, compete, and be visible in a world that often questions your very right to exist, let alone to participate." Hernandez's case was thrust into national attention after Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California over her sporting participation. Her successes prompted the California Interscholastic Federation to change its rules to allow "biological female" student athletes who would have made the qualifying mark without a trans contestant in the race to compete in the finals. A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom's office called the proposed pilot "reasonable". California state law allows the participation of trans women and girls in women's sports. Trump posted on Truth Social: "Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to." His message refers to an Executive Order from February titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports". In an interview with Capital & Main, Hernandez, from Jurupa Valley, California, said: "There's nothing I can do about people's actions, just focus on my own. "I'm still a child. You're an adult, and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person." She faced heckling and protesters in the crowd at a track meet earlier this month and was accompanied by campus security and Sheriff's Department deputies, CNN has reported. "Girls were just shocked that people would actually come to do that, and really bully a child," she said. "I've trained so hard. I mean, hours of conditioning every day, five days a week. "Every day since November, three hours after school. And then all of summer, no summer break for me." Her mother added that those who have "doxed, harassed and violated my daughter AB's privacy" have created a "hostile and unsafe environment for a minor".
The Irish Sun
11 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Violence erupts over trans athlete AB Hernandez in California with supporter arrested for smashing car with Pride flag
VIOLENT protests have erupted in California after a trans athlete served a crushing defeat to two female competitors at a sporting event. Trans teen AB Hernandez, 16, came first in the women's long jump and triple jump at the event in California - a defiance of Trump's executive order to ban trans athletes from women's sports. 3 Demonstrators hold signs outside the Veteran's Memorial Stadium during the California high school track-and-field championships in Clovis, California Credit: AP 3 A banner reading 'NO BOYS IN GIRLS' SPORTS!' is flown above Veterans' Memorial Stadium during the California high school track-and-field championships Credit: AP 3 AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley poses with a medal after winning the girls' long jump Credit: AP She also finished fourth in the high jump at the Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Masters Meet, missing out on a championship place in that event by one spot. But a crowd of angry parents confronted her mother at the event to complain that a trans girl was competing against their daughters. It has now turned into a heated row with dozens of protestors carrying out demonstrations to 'save girls sports". The protests quickly turned violent after one person was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Clovis police Sgt. Chris Hutchison told the Chronicle. Hre said the person is accused of using the base of a Pride flag to smash a car window, leaving a person injured. More protestors are expected to show up today as the sporting event continues. Yesterday, a crowd of furious high school parents berated the mother of the trans athlete after her dominant victory. The video, which has now gone viral on TikTok, shows the parents hounding Hernandez's mother for allowing her to compete. Most read in The US Sun One of the parents can be heard yelling at her mother: "What a coward of a woman you are allowing that." Hernandez's story previously made headlines after another teenage girl that she beat to first place in a separate contest waited for her to descend from the podium before moving to pose in the top spot. In the TikTok, the parent can also be heard shouting: "Your mental illness is on your son, coward." But more than half of US states have implemented bans on trans youth athletes participating since 2020. In an Instagram post, Hernandez's mother said: "It takes immense bravery to show up, compete, and be visible in a world that often questions your very right to exist, let alone to participate." Hernandez's case was thrust into national attention after Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California over her sporting participation. Her successes prompted the California Interscholastic Federation to change its rules to allow "biological female" student athletes who would have made the qualifying mark without a trans contestant in the race to compete in the finals. A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom's office called the proposed pilot "reasonable". California state law allows the participation of trans women and girls in women's sports. Trump posted on Truth Social: "Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to." His message refers to an Executive Order from February titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports". In an interview with Capital & Main, Hernandez, from Jurupa Valley, California, said: "There's nothing I can do about people's actions, just focus on my own. "I'm still a child. You're an adult, and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person." She faced heckling and protesters in the crowd at a track meet earlier this month and was accompanied by campus security and Sheriff's Department deputies, CNN has reported. "Girls were just shocked that people would actually come to do that, and really bully a child," she said. "I've trained so hard. I mean, hours of conditioning every day, five days a week. Read more on the Irish Sun "Every day since November, three hours after school. And then all of summer, no summer break for me." Her mother added that those who have "doxed, harassed and violated my daughter AB's privacy" have created a "hostile and unsafe environment for a minor".
San Francisco Chronicle
16 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Where is Maria? S.F. woman vanishes after telling relatives ICE was taking her
An immigrant traveling to her early morning work shift at a San Francisco Target store Friday has vanished — after texting a relative that she was being taken by immigration officers — and now her family and police are trying to confirm whether she was truly arrested. But so far, federal immigration officials have not said whether Maria Auxiliadora Jarquin Morales is in their custody — and her family says they have not heard from her since about 4:30 a.m. when she left a series of text messages saying she was being taken. In her texts, Morales, a 33-year-old Nicaraguan woman who is the mother of one daughter, told the relative that she was driving to her job on Geary Street in the Richmond District when she was pulled over and asked for her driver's license, according to the family member who received the voicemails from her. The family member spoke to the Chronicle on condition that her identity not be revealed and in accordance with the Chronicle's policy on anonymous sources. Morales texted that she was scared and sent her location in case anything happened to her, the family member said. Morales told the family member that she was being taken by immigration authorities and told the relative to care for her daughter. Morales also sent a video while in her car and then told her relative where she had left her parked vehicle, which her family later recovered. Her family has not heard from her again, despite dozens of texts and calls to her, and no agencies have confirmed any arrest. Morales was authorized to work in the U.S. and had no criminal record, the family member said. Morales has always been a hard worker and never disappeared — or been out of contact with her family — before. She has been in the United States for three years. The family member reported the woman missing to San Francisco police, who also have not been able to confirm with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies that the woman is in their custody, the family member said. San Francisco police confirmed they received a report of a missing person in the Richmond District. ICE did not respond to the Chronicle's request for comment Friday. The disappearance of Morales comes days after lawyers said ICE arrested four immigrants in the San Francisco Immigration Court after attending their court hearings in their asylum cases. Advocates have vowed to fight the arrests, which came after Department of Homeland Security lawyers unsuccessfully moved to have their cases dismissed. Lawyers said the arrests and deportation efforts from the administration of President Donald Trump infringes on the due process of immigrants, circumventing the decisions of immigration judges ruling against the Department of Homeland Security. The woman's family is continuing their search for answers on her whereabouts, including checking hospitals.
San Francisco Chronicle
20 hours ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
L.A.'s most famous doughnut spot is opening in the Bay Area
Randy's Donuts, the instantly recognizable Los Angeles chain known for its original location's gargantuan sign and a multitude of doughnut flavors, is opening its first Bay Area shop. The 73-year-old brand will arrive in the region with an outpost in Santa Clara, at 2595 Homestead Rd., SFGate first reported. (The Chronicle and SFGate are both owned by Hearst but operate independently). Adeel Siddiqui, owner of Bay Area Indian restaurant mini chain Port of Peri Peri for the last 17 years, confirmed the news to the Chronicle. He is working with two other partners under the franchise group Sweet Rings LLC. The plan is to operate this and another three locations planned for Fremont, San Jose and Redwood City; If all goes well, the new location will serve its treats in the third quarter of the year. 'We're so excited to be the first to bring Randy's Donuts to the Bay Area,' he said. Randy's is opening just a stone's throw away from Stan's Donuts, the South Bay's venerable doughnut specialist, featured on the Chronicle's top doughnut list, which is located at 2628 Homestead Rd. Commentators on Reddit were quick to make the connection, but expressed hope that the two shops could coexist.' Given that Stan's has been around for a very long time and is very very popular (best glazed donuts you've ever eaten), fingers crossed they'll be fine,' one Reddit user wrote. Siddiqui believes the Bay Area is the perfect place for Randy's. He points to strong companies in the tech industry and a large, diverse population as promising signs. Randy's, whose 35-foot tall donut sign has graced the silver screen in films such as 'Mars Attacks,' 'Dope' and 'Iron Man 2,' also has an allure that Siddiqui, like others, can't resist. 'The original has become a destination. People everywhere know about it,' he said. But there are currently no plans to install a similar sign atop the building, a former KFC location. The Bay Area has been expecting Randy's Donuts' arrival since owner Mark Kelegian bought what was then a few, but popular drive-thrus. In 2019 he told the Chronicle he was thinking of opening 10 locations in the region, but did not specify when and where. Today, Randy's is on an expansion tear. New franchises have settled into San Diego, Las Vegas and abroad into Japan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Is San Francisco due for a Randy's location? Siddiqui says he is focused on getting the first locations right. But looking ahead, his answer is very certain: 'Absolutely,' he said.
