Drivers sought following 2 fatal hit-and-runs in San Jose - 'No conscience whatsoever'
SAN JOSE – Police in San Jose are searching for two drivers linked to separate hit-and-run collisions after two pedestrians were killed last week.
The first collision was reported around 2:25 p.m. Friday near South White Road and Buckner Drive in East San Jose.
"An elderly lady was hit by a truck," said neighbor Patricia Garcia, who arrived home to gruesome scene Friday afternoon.
According to a preliminary investigation, the driver of a pickup, possibly a silver Dodge Ram, was traveling southbound on White Road when a woman was struck outside of a crosswalk.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Garcia told KPIX she struggles to understand how anyone could leave someone in the road -- injured or dying -- and sped off from the scene.
"Obvious that person has no conscience – has no conscience whatsoever. Who is going to go and just hit someone and just take off like that?," she said.
Police said the woman was the 15th pedestrian killed and the 24th traffic death of the year. Less than 36 hours later, that grim tally of traffic deaths would grow again.
On Saturday, at 9:45 p.m., officers responded to a second hit-and run collision on Capitol Expressway near the Monterey Road interchange in South San Jose.
Investigators said the driver in this collision was traveling westbound on the expressway when a woman was struck. The pedestrian was taken to a local hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries.
The woman in Saturday's collision was the 16th pedestrian fatality of 2023, and the 25th traffic death.
Identities of both victims are being withheld pending confirmation and notifying next of kin.
Police did not give a description of the suspect vehicle in the second hit-and-run.
"These are people – regardless of where they are in the in the street or not, that we need to do our best and try to make sure we are stopping. Abiding by the law and also helping these people get medical assistance, whether or not it was your fault that the collision occurred," said Sgt. Jorge Garibay, a spokesperson for the San Jose Police Department.
Anyone with information is asked to call the department's Traffic Investigations Unit at 408-277-4654. Information about Friday's collision can be emailed to Detective Aldinger of the unit, while information about Saturday's collision can be emailed to Detective O'Brien of the unit.
Information can also be submitted anonymously by calling the tip line at 408-947-STOP or by visiting http://www.svcrimestoppers.org.
Devin Fehely contributed reporting.
