Video Shows SFPD Patrol Car Hit Cyclist South of Market

The San Francisco Police Department is investigating a collision between a bicyclist and a patrol car in the South of Market district on Thursday afternoon, which happened to be Bike to Work Day.

A video posted to YouTube indicates that the cyclist, traveling south on Second Street near Mission Street, was riding in a green-striped bike lane when the police vehicle suddenly moved to the left lane from a right-hand-only turn lane, striking the rider and knocking him over. The police car initially had its right-turn indicator on before it pulled across the bike lane, according to the video taken by Nexar, a smartphone dashcam app.

Immediately after the collision, the police car came to a stop in the bike lane and two officers exited the vehicle to tend to the rider.

In the comments section on Hoodline regarding a separate bicyclist collision, Tim Doyle identified himself as the cyclist.

From Hoodline, an online news site that covers many city neighborhoods:

I got hit by a SFPD car at 5:45pm at 2nd and Mission. At Least I got hit by a cop who didn't try to flee. He called an ambulance for me. But I did see that a bit of a lie trying to be put into the report that the lights and siren were on. Not true. The cop car was in a parking space alongside 2nd street and without looking or seeing me just pulled out into my lane as I was doing 25mph and I t-boned the cop car. I flew 15 feet through the air and landed flat on my back. Spent 10 hours in the SFGH Emergency Department and was discharged with a few cracked bones and a gnarly right leg wound.

SFPD spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan confirmed to KQED in an email that there is an administrative and collision investigation underway. She also also said the officer called medics to the scene.

Chris Cassidy, communications director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, said Second Street is a high-injury corridor for both pedestrians and cyclists.

"It looks to me like the person on the bike is behaving exactly like you'd hope and expect somebody biking to behave ... staying perfectly in the bike lane and behaving predictably, and having his wheels and legs cut out right from under him, through no fault of his own, is a shocking thing to see," Cassidy said.

Cassidy said he spoke with Doyle this morning. Doyle told Cassidy he was released from San Francisco General Hospital at 4 a.m., has a pretty serious leg wound and was in severe pain. Cassidy said Doyle's injuries included some broken bones.

"This gentleman's been biking in San Francisco for 25 years," Cassidy said. "So you've got an experienced cyclist who is behaving exactly like we would train someone in our safety classes. And even that isn't enough to prevent somebody from unpredictably swerving in front of him when he's doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing."

Cassidy said the Second Street bike lane is only about one month old. He added there are plans to build a raised bike lane along the entirety of Second Street to provide bicyclists additional protection.

Ted Goldberg contributed to this post.