San Francisco SUV Jihad Driver Pleads Insanity

From the always awesome Brenda Walker on the indispensable website Limits To Growth...

Hit-run rampage suspect enters insanity plea [5/13/08]
In August 2006, Omeed Aziz Popal, a Muslim born in Afghanistan, purposely ran down more than a dozen people in San Francisco after killing a man in Fremont by the same means. See my report from the time of the crime, SUV Jihad in San Francisco?

Naturally, he is pleading insanity rather than jihad. But in a KTVU television segment shortly after the rampage was stopped, a witness reportedly said the driver (Popal) called himself a "terrorist."

A 31-year-old Fremont man accused running down and trying to kill pedestrians in San Francisco entered a plea today of not guilty by reason of insanity to 35 felony counts.

Omeed Aziz Popal is accused of 16 counts of attempted murder, 16 assault charges and other crimes stemming from the attack Aug. 29, 2006, in which people were run down in at least 11 spots from the Tenderloin to Laurel Heights.

Prosecutors have argued that Popal drove around the city seeking out victims, even circling the block to return to "kill zones" by aiming his Honda Pilot at people prone in the street from his first try.

I find it curious that Popal drove from Fremont to San Francisco (a 33-mile trip that includes crossing the 2.4-mile Bay Bridge and would take at least 40 minutes midday) in order to kill random people when he was already in a gigantic urban zone. More curious is how his route within the city brought him close to the two synagogues on California Street. One victim was a block away from the synagogue located at the corner of Webster (see map). When Popal reached the Jewish Community Center near Presidio, he ran down two people on the sidewalk.

Did Popal travel to San Francisco to kill Jews? Maybe. Or was his Muslim sensitivity offended by San Franciscans' edgy lifestyles enough to make that city his target? Also possible. And given the political correctness of the "justice" system, we'll probably never know for sure.