San Jose police released surveillance footage of a fatal hit-and-run in hopes that the public could help identify the driver.
The video shows the black Chevrolet Silverado that struck and killed a bicyclist early Sunday morning at South First and Reed streets in downtown. In the footage, the truck continues driving after the collision as the victim’s suitcase slides across the road.
Police say officers arrived around 4:30am Sunday to reports of a collision and found a cyclist in the roadway. Paramedics pronounced him dead on scene.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the Silverado was traveling north in southbound lanes on South First Street when it struck the cyclist.
The driver fled the scene and remains on the lam.
“We are asking for the public’s assistance in locating this vehicle,” an SJPD spokesman wrote in a press release. “It is described as a dark-colored, black or blue, newer Chevrolet Silverado truck. It has a cover over the bed. It will have front end damage.”
The hit-and-run marks the city’s second traffic fatality of 2021.
The victim’s name is being withheld until the coroner notifies his next of kin.
Police urge anyone with information about the incident to call the department’s Traffic Unit at 408.277.4654. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 408.947.7867.
bikes are for trails
not roads
Ban Bikes, Save Lives
“If we can save just one life wouldn’t it be worth it?”
Complete degenerates in the comment section blaming the cyclist. SJ Kulak should seek God’s love and reflect on his lack of empathy for his fellow human beings.
Not blaming the cyclist, I feel bad for him/her. But if he was not there he would not have been killed.
This is preventable, with an abundance of empathy for other cyclists, keep them off the road.
Everyone wins.
Bicycles belong on the street, not on the sidewalk. As a veteran of cycling who has seen its decline for a number of reasons, I have stopped riding in places and in situations I rode in before without hesitation, but that’s due to poor motorists, of which there are hordes locally, as elsewhere in the state, and the even greater decline of driving and driver quality. Surrender to the bad worse is NOTHING to cheer.
Had the cyclist not been present, a pedestrian might have been struck, instead. This also involved a swerve, may be intentional or very gross negligence.
San Jose could use license plate readers (and maybe better illumination) in the “troubled” areas if it isn’t going to enforce traffic laws and may do little more than respond later to collisions. (If the vehicles have license plates, that is)
After cyclists come motorcyclists of all kinds, as they’re also Vulnerable Road Users, to use the activist and sometimes planner lingo, and some of us have quit motorcycling due to worsening conditions.
Cyclists (at least normal, everyday, and utilitarian ones, if not Boy Racers of either sex at any age) use roads, notably arterials, for the same reasons motorists do, as I explained once about a city that rebuilt a major arterial then required cyclists to use the sidewalk. The city changed “Must use sidewalk” to “May use sidewalk” afterward. That did not absolve them of liability for cyclists struck due to poor design, including too-narrow right lane width, especially on a rebuilt street.
Cyclists can terrorize trail users as much as sidewalk users as well as failing to obey traffic laws on the roads. (Sidewalks also don’t support full cycling speeds and are full of cross-traffic hazards at driveways, worse than ever with today’s drivers.) However, the trails that matter here are in the street rights-of-way, and I’m at times starting to sympathize with the ignorant activists (if not the planner types) for being enamored of cycle tracks as in Euro-cities and wanting physical separation from motor vehicles along roads, drivers are so bad now. It’s a waste even to think of cycle tracks, as a rule, but driving really is bad. As a veteran on the Bay Area roads in particular it’s a bitter loss to me; I avoid a number of roads and situations now for cyclig. Everyone avoiding all roads isn’t a solution, though. And this act on video looked intentional.
The city needs traffic enforcement as well as probably license plate readers (and more video?) since the city is full of troubles by motorists in many places and lax enforcement encourages the ever-ready to be worse.
Bikes are low-speed vehicles, even if not formally designated so, and must be operated with that in mind, but downtown streets are not for higher speeds and should be able to be safely ridden (or crossed by pedestrians) at any time like residential streets (also a motorist problem site often).
Wisdom is knowing Bay Area drivers, on the whole, are some of the worst, most distracted, unlicensed in the country. San Jose is a terrible place to ride a bike on the road, or sidewalk, but the Bay Area is world class for trails. Some say the birth place of mountain biking was Marim. Getting mad at logic is not God’s way either, or so says St Thomas.
Ride the trails, not the roads, thats not “victim blaming”, just common sense.
“Complete degenerates”, is that the Christian thing to say? Maybe Califorian Christian, I guess.
Enforcing traffic laws and prosecuting egregious offenders is common sense, too, though. Admittedly it’s against the political flow. Avoidance of the worst threats as
stated by me is sensible enough for cyclists, but it should be considered Plan B. (Roads rather than trails often go where cyclists need or want to go, or there’s no trail at all, welcome as it might be.)
The time and luggage suggest to me the bicyclist may have been unhoused. If this is the case, it may be a compound tragedy in that they may never be identified.