Tuesday News Roundup
CHILD STRUCK, KILLED BY MUNI VEHICLE IN INGLESIDE
A child was struck and killed this morning by a San Francisco Municipal Railway light-rail vehicle in the city’s Ingleside neighborhood, a fire department spokeswoman said.
The parents of the child are at the scene of the collision, which was reported at 8:28 a.m. near the intersection of San Jose and Lakeview avenues, fire spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.
According to Muni officials, the collision has caused the M-Ocean View line to turn back at the corner of Broad Street and Plymouth Avenue.
MAN SERIOUSLY INJURED WHEN MISSION DISTRICT ARGUMENT TURNS VIOLENT
An argument that turned violent left a man with life-threatening injuries in
San Francisco’s Mission District on Monday morning, police said today. The victim, a man in his 40s, got into an argument with the suspect around 7:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Capp Street, between 16th and 17th streets, according to police.
The suspect allegedly punched the victim multiple times and then stomped on his head when the victim fell to the ground, police said. The victim was left unconscious with severe head trauma and cuts to his face, police said.
The suspect, a man in his 30s, was arrested, but police have not yet released his name.
NEW HIGHWAY FIRST RESPONDERS APP SHOULD SHORTEN ROAD CLOSURES
A new mobile app will help first responders on Bay Area highways share information more quickly and shorten highway closure times, Caltrans and Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission officials said Monday.
Caltrans maintenance crews and dispatchers tested the app through March and are preparing to make it available to other first responders. Eventually, it is intended to be used by California Highway Patrol officers, tow truck drivers, paramedics and anyone else responding to crashes and other highway incidents.
It works by allowing first responders to take pictures and write messages that are added to a central source of information about an ongoing incident that is accessible by other first responders and dispatchers. That way, everyone can have access to the best, current information and the correct equipment and resources can be directed to scenes.
It will be an optional method for employees to log information, but one that Caltrans and the MTC hope plenty of first responders will take, MTC spokesman John Goodwin said Monday.
“There’s nothing mandatory about this, there’s nothing that obliges any one agency to use it,” Goodwin said. “But it’s one that we expect will be opted for.”
The app, currently only built for the iPhone platform, will soon be available to MTC employees both using agency-provided devices and personal devices used for agency work. All MTC agency-provided phones are iPhones, Goodwin said.
The app may be expanded to other platforms in the future, Goodwin said.
“A picture really is worth a thousand words,” MTC Transportation Management and Coordination Principal Radiah Victor said. “This is a simple and inexpensive way to use existing cellphone camera and map technology to ensure responders have a common operating picture to support quick response and safe clearance of incidents.”
Every minute saved in clearing a highway incident saves an estimated four minutes in traffic delay time, according to Caltrans and MTC officials. Getting first responders off roadways quicker also puts them at that much less risk.
While the system, developed by the Oakland-based Monsoon Company, will only be in use in the Bay Area at first, Caltrans and MTC officials expect it may be something scalable to a much larger area.
PROMINENT BAYE AREA POLITICAL CONSULTANT BAILED OUT OF JAIL
Enrique Pearce, a prominent San Francisco political consultant who has worked on numerous high-profile campaigns, was bailed out of jail Friday and has been charged Monday afternoon with six felonies related to the possession and distribution of child pornography.
San Francisco Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Kenya Briggs said Pearce, a 41-year-old San Francisco resident, was released from jail in lieu of $215,000, less than 24 hours after he was arrested on Thursday by San Francisco police serving a search warrant at an address in the Tenderloin neighborhood.
San Francisco police spokeswoman Officer Grace Gatpandan said the search of the Tenderloin property, located on McAllister Street near Leavenworth Street, was the culmination of a child pornography investigation.
The search uncovered over 600 images related to child pornography, including material involving sexual sadism or sexual masochism, according to Gatpandan.
Police arrested Pearce at about 5 p.m. Thursday and booked him into San Francisco County Jail. He was bailed out on Friday afternoon.
Max Szabo, a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office said Pearce was charged with six felonies related to child pornography, including receiving stolen property, Monday afternoon. Szabo said Pearce would be arraigned later this week.
Pearce, who works as a consultant at Left Coast Communications, has worked on political campaigns for U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, as well as San Francisco supervisors Jane Kim and Norman Yee, among others.
Pearce also established Pearce Law Offices, which handles employment, labor, and contract law, according to the law firm’s website. The law firm is located in the same office as Left Coast Communications.Prior to graduating from the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law, Pearce studied communication at Northwestern University.
According to Pearce Law Offices’ website, he has worked as a legislative aide to members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and been a political consultant on election campaigns for the school board, judge, board of supervisors, city attorney and mayor.
Gatpandan said investigators have not announced what evidence led them to Pearce and said Pearce would not be treated any differently because he is a public figure.
Child pornography, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, is defined as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a person less than 18 years old
The U.S. Department of Justice maintains that by the mid 1980s, the trafficking of child pornography within the U.S. was almost completely eradicated but with the advent of the Internet, the child pornography market exploded.
Police have not said how Pearce might have stored the child pornography or how it might have been distributed.
