UPDATE: Deputy Chase Ends In Horrific Crash On Lawrence Expressway In San Jose; 2 Dead, 2 Arrested
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- Two people were killed and two others injured when a Santa Clara County Sheriff's vehicle pursuit ended in a horrific collision Monday night.
San Jose police said that their units were called to assist deputies at the scene of the crash on Lawrence Expressway and Mitty Way at around 9:57 p.m.
The sheriff's office said its deputies were attempting a traffic stop on a 2017 white Honda Accord when it took off at a high rate of speed.
A preliminary investigation indicated the Accord was traveling northbound on Lawrence Expressway through a red light at Mitty Way when it hit into a 1999 Toyota Camry which was turning left onto Mitty Way, police said.
The impact pushed the Camry approximately 250 feet forward, where it slammed into a sound wall. Both the adult male driver and the adult female passenger were pronounced deceased at the scene.
Allan Distor was driving down Lawrence Expressway at the time of the crash.
"It was like a movie," he told KPIX 5. "[One vehicle] was flipping over and over in the air and then slammed into the wall."
The adult male driver and the 17-year-old passenger of the Honda Accord suffered moderate injuries that were not life-threatening and were taken to a local hospital. Both were subsequently arrested for evading an officer, gross vehicular manslaughter, and various firearms and narcotics charges, police said.
Once released from the hospital they will be booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail and Juvenile Hall on the charges.
It was San Jose's 14th fatal traffic collision for 2021, with victims 14 and 15. The identity of the victims was withheld ahead of notification of the next of kin.
Anyone with information on this investigation was urged to contact Detective Garcia #3931 of the San José Police Department's Traffic Investigations Unit at 408-277-4654.
