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Police investigating San Jose hit & run, witness says it was intentional
A San Jose State University student took a video of a felony hit-and-run crash in the downtown area over the weekend. KTVU's Azenith Smith reports the student says it was intentional. Police are investigating.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Police in San Jose are investigating a felony hit-and-run that happened early Sunday morning at 12:30 a.m. in downtown San Jose that was captured on cell phone video.
San Jose State student Jamal Turiali was about to go to a nightclub when he said he saw two groups of people arguing at the intersection of South First Street and West San Salvador. The next thing he knew, he saw a car speeding and hit a pedestrian.
“Out of nowhere, the car comes and just turns and hits that dude and just takes off,” said Turiali.
Turiali posted the video on Twitter. In the video, the pedestrian is seen being knocked to the ground and sliding underneath a parked red truck.
San Jose Police said the BMW SUV did not stop injuring a pedestrian who was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“It was a shock to all of us. After it was all done, I looked at my friend and said did that really just happen?” said Turiali. “A car hit someone in front of us. You only see this on social media from somewhere else, not here in our hometown of California in downtown San Jose.”
Witnesses said the driver was heading northbound on South First Street making a left turn onto West San Salvador.
“It looked like he wanted to hit the person,” said Turiali.
“The amount of acceleration and force that he flew, it seemed like they were targeting him,” said Quest Hills of Tac-oh! San Jose. “Probably one of the friends backing them up trying to stop the fight, but not the appropriate way.”
The incident happened right in front of Tac-oh! San Jose Restaurant. Hills said police are reviewing surveillance video from there.
The video is not only concerning to businesses but visiting patrons like Orlando Zaldivar from Miami who is in San Jose for the Zoomtopia technology conference.
“It looked really messy,” said Zaldivar. “He didn't see it coming from what I saw. The guy was walking away or towards something. He got hit from behind really hard.”
Turiali doesn't plan on going back to downtown San Jose on a weekend night anytime soon.
“It’s surprising, alarming to see that happen close to home,” said Turiali.
Police are classifying the case as a felony hit-and-run and have not given a description of the driver. The suspect’s car is described as a newer BMW SUV with tinted windows. So far, police have not provided a license plate number.