San Jose pedestrian in roadway hit, killed by truck's driver

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, San Jose police responded to the latest fatal vehicle-pedestrian collision. Investigators used social media to alert the public, making a Twitter post which said the deadly collision took place on southbound Capitol Avenue, near Alum Rock Avenue.

"As you know, Vision Zero has a goal of eliminating traffic fatalities, which is an ambitious goal. But we can’t say that we have a goal of five or 10. It’s only acceptable to have no one die on our streets," said San Jose Dept. of Transportation spokesperson Colin Heyne.

Police detectives spent much of the morning and early afternoon viewing surveillance video from J&C Auto Repair shop at 75 South Capitol Ave., close to the collision site. It showed the adult male arriving around 2 a.m., and standing on the sidewalk on Capitol, just south of Alum Rock. Around 5 a.m., he lies down in the roadway, partially concealed by the pre-dawn darkness. A short time later, the driver of a truck runs over the victim, and continues driving.

City officials said despite this loss of life, the number of fatal vehicle-pedestrians is actually down by one-third from this time last year. Heyne credited a multifaceted approach for reversing an alarming trend.

"We’ve got our police department rebuilding their traffic enforcement unit. We are, our city council has approved supportive legislation A-B 645 to get automated speed enforcement cameras in San Jose as a pilot project. We’ve been building safety projects on priority safety corridors," said Heyne.

All have had a positive effect. But Heyne pointed out drivers bear the brunt of the responsibility for avoiding collisions, even if a pedestrian is in the roadway.

"The slower you are, the more likely you are to see something out of the ordinary in the road," he said.

San Jose police have asked anyone with information about the victim in this case to come forward. They’re also looking to question the truck’s driver about the collision.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Twitter, @JesseKTVU and on Instagram, @jessegontv