A hit-and-run in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve left two women dead — and now, the city’s Democrat district attorney is taking heat for not doing more to prevent the tragedy.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, 45-year-old Troy McAllister has been identified as the driver of a stolen car that hit another vehicle and then two pedestrians on Thursday, killing both.
Police later identified the victims as 27-year-old Hanako Abe and 60-year-old Elizabeth Platt.
The driver of the car that was struck by McAllister was said to have suffered only minor injuries, the Chronicle reported.
Passing the buck
McAllister was soon found by police and taken into custody over a slew of charges, “including two counts of voluntary manslaughter, possession of a stolen vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident, burglary, driving while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, driving while addicted to drugs, possessing a gun and a large-capacity ammunition magazine, and violating the terms of parole,” according to the Chronicle. A handgun and suspected drugs were reportedly found in the vehicle he’d wrecked.
The suspect had been on parole for a 2015 robbery since his release from jail last April. According to the Chronicle, he was arrested several times after being released, most recently on Dec. 20, but none of those arrests ever turned up any charges.
Instead, authorities referred McAllister to state parole agents, who Democrat District Attorney Chesa Boudin tried to blame for McAllister not being behind bars at the time of crash.
“We referred these cases to parole because we believed there was a greater likelihood of him being held accountable and having the kind of intervention that would protect the public and break this cycle of recidivism,” Boudin said of the case, as the Chronicle reported. “Clearly, it was a mistake to think parole supervision would be adequate.”
“Shouldn’t have happened”
Boudin’s attempt to point fingers at the parole office did not go unanswered, however.
“Our parole office followed all procedures after these incidents, including conducting investigations and making appropriate referrals for the individual,” the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which runs parole, said in a statement shared by the Chronicle. “None of the parolee’s arrests following his 2020 release have yet to result in filings of criminal charges by the District Attorney.”
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott also called for the DA’s office to take responsibility for the failure to hold McAllister on previous arrests, pointing out that the police department takes responsibility “whenever we fall short of expectations,” as the Chronicle reported.
“This senseless tragedy shouldn’t have happened,” he added in a series of tweets, according to CBS San Francisco. “We must all be held equally accountable for the decisions we make because they can have serious implications for the safety of those we serve. San Franciscans deserve nothing less and that’s what they’re demanding from all of us in the criminal justice system.”
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