Innocents

The headlines and the stories are always full of the details of the crime, the background of the criminal and the typical, "He was such a nice guy" quotes about the criminal. Sometimes it is more important to remember the ones the criminal hurt or killed. So, whether or not the driver of the SUV who went on a hit and run rampage was or was not crazy, was or was not motivated out of hate, was or was not anything at all, the ones we really need to think about are his victims.

One of the victims was Vera Jenkins, 40. She had just left her home in San Francisco's Western Addition to meet her husband for lunch and was in the crosswalk at Bush and Pierce streets when a black sport utility vehicle plowed into her from behind.

"She said he seemed to slow down and then gunned his motor at my wife," said Jenkins' husband, Walter DeFrantz, who rushed to the scene after his sobbing wife called him on her cell phone.

The impact shoved Jenkins into a pole before she fell to the ground. She had a hard time getting up, her husband said. Witnesses rushed to her aide and called for an ambulance. She was taken to Kaiser Permanente and was listed in fair condition.

DeFrantz said no bones were broken, "but she's sore as hell."

Pedro Aglugov, 70, was hit while walking in a crosswalk. Afterward, he sat at a sidewalk cafe at California and Fillmore streets with his head bandaged with gauze, holding an ice pack to one elbow.

"Somebody hit me and didn't stop. He was going real fast. I was lucky I wasn't hurt more," he said. Aglugov was taken to the hospital later, becoming the fourth person hospitalized from that intersection.

There are so very many more. The rampaging driver's family and lawyer are doing their level best to spin this as a case on mental illness. But sources close to the investigation say the man shows no remorse and no signs of being insane. He just wanted to run people down.

 Omeed Aziz Popal, now in custody for a fatal hit-and-run rampage that apparently began in Fremont and ended in San Francisco, has a history of mental problems and suffered an apparent mental breakdown Tuesday on the way to a job interview, family members and his attorney said Tuesday.

But those involved in the investigation — speaking on condition of anonymity — discount any mental illness, saying the 29-year-old Afghanistan native seemed coherent, unrepentant and claimed that he repeatedly drove at pedestrians because he "just wanted to.''

According to his attorney, Majeed Samara, Popal suffered a breakdown about five months ago and had to be hospitalized.

"He woke up and started freaking out,'' he said. The family took Popal to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fremont for treatment, but he was released. "It looks like he felt better, but after that, he started getting worse.''

About two months ago, Popal falsely confessed to killing someone in San Francisco, Samara said. He said Popal was interviewed by investigators in Fremont and his statement turned out to be a "John Karr confession,'' referring to the man recently released in the killing of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey.

Just remember the innocents. Don't let it all be about Popal.