Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...SAN JOSE — Police are investigating the city’s 21st traffic fatality of 2026 — Sunday’s early morning death of a female passenger who was riding in a Buick sedan that reportedly tried to flee police in Santa Clara and led officers on a chase into San Jose, where it first collided with another car and then crashed into a telephone pole.
In a news release, San Jose police said a female passenger of the 2002 sedan was pronounced dead after the crash at the intersection of Naglee and Park avenues, in the Rose Garden district of San Jose.
The Buick’s driver, a male, sustained major injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital, but was also taken into custody by San Jose police, the news release said.
Two other women were also taken to local hospitals with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. They had been riding in a gray 2016 Toyota sedan, which was struck by the Buick as it ran a red light at Naglee Avenue.
The deadly chain of events began about 12:16 a.m. Sunday when Santa Clara police officers saw the Buick driving recklessly on Stevens Creek Boulevard, Santa Clara police said in a news release. At one point, the sedan drove on the wrong side of the road and onto the center median, the release said.
Officers tried to pull the Buick over, but its driver refused to stop and fled through city streets in Santa Clara and onto Highway 880, the news release said.
The pursuit continued into San Jose, where the Buick was traveling south on Park Avenue in the Rose Garden, San Jose police said. It ran the red light at Naglee Avenue and hit the Toyota, which was going west on Naglee Avenue, police said.
The investigation into the city’s 21st fatality of 2026 is ongoing. Anyone with information on this investigation is asked to contact Detective DelliCarpini of the San José Police Department’s Traffic Investigations Unit at 4103@sanjoseca.gov or (408) 277-4654. They can also contact traffic investigator Steve Ernst at (408) 615-4764, or leave an anonymous tip at the Santa Clara Police Department’s anonymous tip line at (408) 615-4847.