One of the women hospitalized after a motorist rammed his SUV into a restaurant patio at San Jose’s Grand Century Mall has succumbed to her injuries, authorities say.
The woman—whose identity is being withheld until the coroner notifies her next-of-kin—was one of eight people seriously wounded by the Sunday afternoon crash, which was one of two eerily similar collisions to take place within hours and one mile of each other.
Mall surveillance video obtained by @KPIXtv shows the SUV jumping two curbs, crossing 4 lanes of traffic, before plowing into outdoor diners at Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant. 2 diners are in critical. SJPD says the 69-year-old driver used the accelerator instead of the brake pic.twitter.com/aporE5GoGA
— Betty Yu (@BettyKPIX) October 13, 2020
San Jose police say the 69-year-old man behind the wheel of his 2000 Toyota four-runner was trying to park around 12:30pm Sunday when he mistakenly accelerated forward across a four-lane road, between palm trees and into a white-canopied outdoor dining area at the Little Saigon shopping center. His car struck three women and five men who sat at various tables—all were sent to local hospitals.
The woman’s death Tuesday evening marks San Jose’s 39th fatal traffic crash and 17th pedestrian fatality so far this year.
This was so preventable. What a horrible tragedy. My heart goes out to her family and friends, as well as the first responders. I will be keeping all of them in my prayers.
My heart breaks for all involved in this horrific accident . There was no mention of substance abuse so it appears it was truly a horrible fatal accident . So many lives affected in an instant . Life is so fragile . ?
This reminds me of how the authorities told us it was unsafe to have a small child “riding shotgun” in the front passenger seat next to the driver. Ever since, there’s been an occasional case of a parent forgetting their kid’s in the back seat and leaving them to die of heatstroke.
Same thing here: the authorities say it’s unsafe to dine indoors, so now people eat in the street or parking lot and occasionally get run over by a vehicle.