Prosecutors Charge Hit-and-Run Driver With Murder
Valantino Cash Amil, 30, didn’t brake. He didn’t stop. On Monday, April 13, prosecutors say he drove onto a San Francisco sidewalk, hit a woman, ran her over, and disappeared into the night. Four days later, the District Attorney charged him with murder. According to court documents cited by the San Francisco District Attorney, Amil pulled his black Mercedes-Benz E350 into the Chevron station at 1601 Mission Street to refuel. Surveillance footage and witness accounts place the suspect behind the wheel of the luxury vehicle as he exited the gas station, merging slowly onto Mission Street with his window down — his car partially blocking the pedestrian sidewalk moments before the fatal hit-and-run.
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The victim while a 74-year-old woman walking on the Mission Street sidewalk and confronted Amil after his Mercedes blocked her path. The two exchanged words as she walked from the driver’s side to the front of the vehicle. When she accidentally spilled water from her bottle onto the hood, Amil allegedly stomped the accelerator too launching the elderly pedestrian off her feet and onto the car’s hood and windshield.
Amil drove several feet before slowing and sending the 74-year-old victim sliding off the hood and directly into the path of his front wheels. Witnesses told investigators that Amil then accelerated again, running over the victim without stopping. San Francisco Fire Department paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene less than ten minutes later. SFPD officers later arrested Amil without incident.
The DA called it murder. The weapon, prosecutors say, was the Mercedes itself. Amil now faces a murder charge with a deadly weapon enhancement also plus felony hit-and-run and walks into San Francisco Superior Court for arraignment Thursday at 1:30 p.m. His defense attorney is already fighting back. Amil believed his family was seconds away from a violent attack, the attorney told KRON4. His children were in the car. He panicked. He acted. The attorney called it self-defense. The DA called it murder. A courtroom will decide which version is true.
Final Thought
A 74-year-old woman was walking on a Mission Street sidewalk in San Francisco on Monday, April 13, when a black Mercedes-Benz E350 driven by Valantino Cash Amil, 30, blocked her path. She confronted him. Words were exchanged. When she accidentally spilled water on his hood, Amil allegedly floored the accelerator — launching her onto the hood and windshield. The car slowed. She slid off. She landed in front of the wheels. Witnesses say Amil drove forward anyway, running her over before fleeing the scene. Paramedics pronounced her dead on the sidewalk less than ten minutes later.
On Thursday, April 17, the San Francisco District Attorney charged Amil with murder with a deadly weapon enhancement — the Mercedes itself — plus one count of felony hit-and-run. He was arraigned Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in San Francisco Superior Court. His defense attorney told KRON4 that Amil’s children were in the car, that he feared a violent attack on his family, and acted out of instinct and self-defense.
The DA called it murder. The defense called it fear. A San Francisco courtroom will decide which version is true.