Mother, daughter killed in San Jose hit-and-run crash

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A San Jose family is mourning the loss of two relatives who were fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver Thursday evening.

Investigator said the victims were a mother and her daughter who were walking in the crosswalk at Ocala Avenue and Oakton Court around 6:26 p.m. when they were hit. It happened right in front of the middle school Ocala Steam Academy.

Detectives said the driver of a red newer model pickup truck kept going after the crash. He was last seen traveling north on Capitol Expressway.

Relatives of the victims said one of the women was in her 70s and her daughter was in her 50s.

The intersection of Ocala and Oakton Court is a long, straight stretch of road where drivers don’t always stop for pedestrians, as a KTVU photographer found out.

A veteran crossing guard in the area said he fears for the children he helps keep safe.

"Every morning, I make sure that my stop sign, always waving, to make attention to the coming cars over here," Miguel De La Santos.

San Jose city transportation officials said this intersection has not been a problem in the past. Only three collisions have occurred there since 2016. Still, the city’s Mission Zero initiative is redesigning pedestrian crossings near seven schools in this area, to make them safer.

San Jose Transportation Department spokesman Colin Heyne said the city is adding, "flashing beacons, an island in the middle of the crosswalk, and concrete, bulb-out curb extensions."

While the city tries to modify human behavior behind the wheel, police are asking for the public's help in finding the driver who killed the San Jose mother and her daughter, then drove off.