Cable Car’s Stop Throws 10 To Street

An abrupt stop by a cable car slipping backward down a hill Monday tossed 10 passengers off the trolley and left them with cuts and bruises.

The car, hooked to moving cables beneath the street, was climbing the steep hill when a car stopped abruptly in front of it.

“The driver lost the cable and the car began to back down the hill,” said Alan Siegel, San Francisco Municipal Railway spokesman.

The driver dropped the emergency brake and several people fell off.

Five passengers were taken to hospitals and five were treated at the scene.