San Francisco man arrested in deadly SoMa hit-and-run crash

A pedestrian died at Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue after a crash that police say turned into a hit-and-run, then a homicide investigation and an arrest. San Francisco police said officers and paramedics responded at about 3:23 p.m. on April 13 and found a deceased adult at the scene.

Investigators later developed probable cause to arrest 30-year-old Valentino Cash Amil of San Francisco, who was booked into San Francisco County Jail on homicide and felony vehicle hit-and-run-with-injury charges. Police said the vehicle fled after the collision and that the case is being handled by the department’s Homicide Detail.

The collision unfolded in a stretch of South of Market that sits near a Chevron station and car wash, where witnesses described sudden chaos as emergency crews rushed in. ABC7 reported that surveillance video from a nearby business appeared to show the victim on the hood of a moving car before falling into the street. SFist reported that officers initially stopped a pickup driver who cooperated, then later focused on a black Mercedes that matched the vehicle seen in the footage. Police also said the Real Time Investigation Center helped coordinate the arrest. SFist reported the pursuit ended near Potrero Avenue and 18th Street, and that a child in a car seat was among the passengers in the Mercedes before other occupants were released.

The case has renewed scrutiny of Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue, an intersection on San Francisco’s High-Injury Network, the small share of city streets where severe crashes are concentrated. City data says that network makes up 13% of San Francisco streets but accounts for 74% of serious injuries and deaths. Walk SF said the death was San Francisco’s eighth pedestrian fatality of 2026, and the group noted that the first pedestrian death of the year was a 76-year-old woman killed Feb. 3 at Bayshore Boulevard and Silver Avenue.

The city has spent years under its Vision Zero policy, which is supposed to eliminate traffic deaths and build safer streets, yet this crash landed in the same corridor where residents have long complained about speed, wide lanes and difficult crossings. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that pedestrian deaths fell from 24 in 2024 to 17 in 2025, but the fatality at Mission and South Van Ness showed how quickly the numbers can reverse on streets that still funnel drivers, pedestrians and transit through the same tight space.