Florida mom and daughter visiting California are fatally hit by taxi, officials say

Two pedestrians who officials said died after being hit by a taxi in California were identified as visitors from Florida, local news outlets report.

The crash took place at around 4:30 p.m. on May 22 in San Francisco, the Associated Press reported.

Police told NBC Bay Area that the taxi collided with another vehicle before driving onto the sidewalk, striking 31-year-old Willa Henderson and 72-year-old Mary Henderson.

The two women, a mother and daughter, were visiting San Francisco from Vero Beach, Florida, for a friend’s wedding, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The women were killed in the crash, officials said, while a 75-year-old man was taken to a hospital and the taxi driver was injured, KTVU reported.

Police and city leaders said the intersection where the crash occurred is dangerous, NBC Bay Area reported.

In an email to the pedestrian safety group Walk San Francisco, an official with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said the taxi swerved onto the sidewalk in an attempt to avoid a sideswipe. Although the driver struck the two women and one other pedestrian, he avoided eight other pedestrians, the email said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

In a statement, Walk SF said the area where the crash happened has been the site of other incidents and that four other pedestrians have been injured there in the past five years.

The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.