Woman in toll booth tragedy ‘lived to help’
Husband says her family meant everything to her
The phone call came around 3:30 a.m. Saturday when Si Si Han was still in bed. It was a supervisor. The California Department of Transportation needed help at the Bay Bridge toll booth and asked if she could she come in as soon as possible.
Without a hesitation — her normal reaction whenever anyone needed help, her husband said — Han headed out.
“She just always lived to help other people,” Ryan Saw said by phone Monday morning. “That’s why she went in to work. If somebody needed something, she went.”
Han, 46, died Saturday when a box truck slammed into a line of cars and then into the No. 14 toll booth, a crash that the California Highway Patrol suspects was caused by driving under the influence. Daniel Berk, 32, of Foster City, has been arrested on suspicion of DUI and manslaughter and remains hospitalized with serious injuries.
Saw said he and Si Si met on an
island off the coast of Thailand just before he migrated to the United States with other family members in 1991, and that she adopted an old-fashioned American work ethic immediately upon arriving in 2002.
Han, of San Lorenzo, worked for the California Department of Transportation for more than a decade, and flags flew at halfstaff in her honor at the state Capitol on Sunday.
Besides her husband, she is survived by her 10-yearold daughter, Ashly.
“Her family was everything to her,” Saw said. “She did everything she could to support her daughter and the family.”
Thus, the reason she left the warmth of her bed for the chilliness of the booth.
“She wasn't on the schedule,” Saw said. “She didn't have to do it. But that's who she was.”
Toll booth worker Itala Portal told KTVU that her friend Han “was the light of the bridge.”
“I called her my China doll. Rain or shine, she always had a beautiful smile on her face. She was so beautiful.”
Caltrans spokesman Robert Haus said Sunday night, “Our top priority is
taking care of Mrs. Han's family.”
“It was nightmarish, seeing a normal workday turn into an incident like that. We are very grateful to the (California Highway Patrol) and to our first responders.”
Two passengers in the truck and four people in other vehicles were hospitalized with serious injuries in the crash. Six cash/ FasTrak lanes, two exclusive FasTrack lanes, and two bus lanes remained closed until late Saturday night.
Three lanes closed through Sunday after the crash were opened by 4:30 a.m. Monday, according to the California Department
of Transportation.
According to the CHP, the box truck from Monarch Truck Rentals hit the No. 14 toll booth, destroying it. It will remain closed indefinitely.
Berk was a lighting and stage tech engineer, according to LinkedIn. He attended the College of San Mateo and Skyline College.
As for Han's family, Saw said they are doing the best they can moment by moment.
“The whole family is with us,” he said. “We're grieving.”