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West Portal crash: S.F. judge sentences driver who killed family of 4 to probation

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A Superior Court judge sentenced a woman who killed a family of four while 
speeding down a residential San Francisco street to probation Friday after 
saying she was ill-suited for incarceration and showed contrition for the 
2024 crash.

Mary Fong Lau, 80, must complete 200 hours of community service and her 
driver’s license will be revoked for three years, but will face no jail 
time or home detention, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan 
ruled. 

Lau pleaded no contest to four felony counts of gross vehicular 
manslaughter last month at a hearing in which Chan said he was inclined to 
sentence her to probation based on her age, lack of criminal history and 
display of remorse. Chan also said his sentence would take into account 
the fact that Lau’s husband was killed in a car crash many years ago.

Investigators found that Lau, driving a Mercedes sport utility vehicle, 
reached speeds of up to 70 mph before she careened into the bus stop 
outside the West Portal Branch Library, where 40-year-old Diego Cardoso de 
Oliveira and 38-year-old Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto — celebrating their 
wedding anniversary — waited for transportation to the San Francisco Zoo 
with their two young children. 

The impact of the crash flung Diego Cardoso de Oliveira and 1-year-old 
Joaquim Ramos Pinto de Oliveira more than 100 feet from the bus stop. Both 
died immediately, officials said. Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto died the 
next day.

After seeing that 3-month old Cauê Ramos Pinto de Oliveira would probably 
never recover — he had suffered days of seizures, neurological damage and 
brain hemorrhaging — his grandmothers made the decision to take him off 
life support, the family said. 

Investigators said Lau was not having a medical emergency when the crash 
occurred and found that her vehicle did not malfunction. 

During court hearings in February, Seth Morris — Lau’s attorney — said his 
client expressed remorse “repeatedly” and sought psychiatric help in the 
aftermath. Chan’s inclination to keep Lau out of prison reflected a 
“measured and humane application of justice,” Morris said last month.

Several months after the crash, the victims’ family members filed a 
wrongful death civil suit against Lau. Last May, they filed another civil 
lawsuit against her after their attorneys alleged Lau transferred her 
ownership interest in several properties to new limited liability 
companies and sold properties to third parties, including her son-in-law, 
in an effort to protect her assets in the event she loses the civil suits. 

On Friday, Chan handed down virtually the same sentence he had noted in 
his indicated ruling, with the exception of adding 200 hours of community 
service. In the preamble to his ruling, he described in detail the 
reasoning behind his decision — a message intended for those who could not 
understand why such an extraordinary loss of life could result in such 
little tangible punishment. 

In his explanation, Chan noted that because both sides agreed Lau had not 
been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, engaging in distracted 
driving or a sideshow or a speed contest, it was difficult to prove the 
woman had been grossly negligent. After that, he had to weigh whether 
incarceration would be anything other than pure retribution given Lau’s 
age, clean record and overall danger to the public.

Even though the issue of why she had driven at nearly three times the 
speed limit — in a straight line for multiple blocks, with no effort to 
brake — was still unclear, it was not enough to change his mind. He had 
read the multitude of letters sent to him, reviewed the mountain of 
documents, and looked at every picture sent to him of the young children 
and their parents. Their deaths, he said, were the most egregious part of 
all.

“They will never have a chance to build a life, their potential forever 
unfulfilled,” Chan said.

Tension and incredulity pulsed through Friday’s sentencing hearing, which 
spanned more than two hours. The bulk of it included stirring victim 
statements from Denise Cardoso de Oliveira and Luis Ramos Pinto, the 
sister of Diego and brother of Matilde. In their statements to the judge, 
they expressed shock and outrage at the outcome that had unfolded before 
them, including the fact that the judge did not sentence Lau to one year 
of home detention, against the recommendation of the adult probation 
department.

When the judge asked whether outfitting an “octogenarian” with an ankle 
monitor was appropriate in the case, a chorus of “yes” could be heard from 
the victims’ side of the courtroom gallery. Rebuking their outward display 
of dissent, Chan said they could disagree with him but “not in that 
fashion.”

Four photos of the young boys were projected during Ramos Pinto’s victim 
impact statement — the first and last time any photos of their family 
would be displayed on the courtroom’s screen. Ramos Pinto recounted the 
horror of Cauê Ramos Pinto de Oliveira’s final few days. Cardoso de 
Oliveira spoke afterward, saying each criminal proceeding in her brother’s 
case had left their family feeling invisible and “deeply disrespected.”

“I would have wished for the defendant to see who she killed, because they 
were lives,” she said. “They had dreams. What remains for us is a 
different kind of life sentence.”

Two friends of the family spoke last, expressing their devastation at the 
“erasure of an entire family” and their burning need for Lau to apologize.

In his final statements to the court, Morris said the “magnitude” of the 
loss had indelibly affected Lau herself. A woman who had once been vibrant 
and an active part of her community had now become a shell of herself, he 
said. 

“The version of Mrs. Lau who sits before you today is a broken person,” he 
said. The magnitude of the loss could simply not be mirrored by criminal 
law. He said he believed the sentence to be fair and just, despite how 
“unpalatable” such an outcome might have seemed. 

As for the question of whether his client felt remorse, he said Lau felt 
it inwardly, and on every occasion of speaking to him had expressed a 
desire to trade places with the family. 

The hearing was then bookended by an unexpected gesture from Lau herself: 
a brief apology, the first time she had ever spoken in her own words. 
Morris said she was compelled to address the family even though he had 
advised her that anything she said could be used against her in future 
proceedings. Getting up from her chair, the small woman with close-cropped 
hair turned her body to look over at the victims’ families. The 
interaction took all of 10 seconds, maybe less.

“I want to say sorry for your family,” she said, in a quiet voice, as she 
bowed. She had a distressed expression on her face. “Sorry. Sorry.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mary-fong-lau-west-portal-family-
crash-sentence-22080184.php

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