SF judge denies reducing felony charges for 80-year-old driver accused of killing a family of 4
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A judge denied reducing charges for an 80-year-driver accused of killing a family of four after crashing into a bus stop in San Francisco's West Portal neighborhood in 2024.
Mary Fong Lau, then 78, had requested a judge to reduce her charges from a felony to a misdemeanor.
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ABC7 has also learned the victims Diego Cardoso de Oliveira and Matilde Ramos Pinto were celebrating their wedding anniversary as they were heading to the San Francisco Zoo with their two young children, Joaquin and Caue, before they were killed. They were waiting at the bus stop when Lau crashed into them.
Matilde's mom, brother and Diego's sister spoke to the judge about the pain and trauma they have endured and described Lau's request to reduce the felony charges to misdemeanors as "insulting."
RELATED: SF driver who killed family of 4 wants judge to reduce felony charges to misdemeanors
Lau's attorney asked the judge to consider her clean record and the fact that her husband died in a vehicle collision when she was 25 years old becoming a widow with 3 children, but the judge denied that request.
"He had the power and authority to make the decision. I think his comment referred to the fact that he couldn't make the decision because the evidence did not support it. Given all he reviewed," said Jim Quadra with Quadra & Coll, LLP.
In the courtroom, the victim's family members questioned why Lau didn't hit the brakes or honk as she was speeding 70 miles an hour in the residential area where she crashed.
Lau's attorney said she was headed to her brother's house to bring him soup and couldn't explain why the vehicle "took off."
Luz Pena: "How do you think that reasoning is going to play out in court?"
Jim Quadra: "Well I can't say what the criminal case will be and what the strategy will be, I don't think that if I were to put myself in that place, I would never take this case to trial. I don't think a jury is going to respond to an explanation that 'I don't know what happened, so I killed 4 people.'"
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Quadra is the victim's civil attorney. She aside from the criminal case, there are two lawsuits pending
Aside from the criminal case, there are two lawsuits against Lau that are on pause at this moment pending a trial in the criminal case.
The next court hearing is scheduled for February 13 as this case is close to a trial.
