"Investigators have concluded that a driver who died after a November wreck lied when he claimed to be a carjacking victim, presumably to avoid liability for the hit-and-run crash, according to the San Jose Police Department. No driver was present when officers were called to the aftermath of a Nov. 22 evening collision in which a 1987 Toyota Odyssey RV hit several unoccupied parked cars on Summerside Drive near Coyote Creek, police said."
"Two days later, traffic detectives were alerted to a report from a local hospital in which a man claimed that he owned the RV and lost it to a violent carjacker who inflicted head and chest injuries on him, police said. Police said the coroner's office discovered evidence during its death investigation suggesting that the man was not a carjacking victim as he claimed."
"Evidence was submitted to the county Crime Lab run by the district attorney's office which confirmed last Thursday that matched the wreck site and indicated the man was driving the RV when it crashed, not his purported carjacker. As a result, the fatal crash is being classified as the 41st traffic death of 2025, police said. Anyone with information for investigators can contact SJPD Traffic Detective Rachel Bowen at 408-277-4654 or by email 4461@sanjoseca.gov."
Investigators concluded a man who later died falsely claimed to be a carjacking victim after a Nov. 22 collision. Officers found no driver at the scene where a 1987 Toyota Odyssey RV struck several unoccupied parked cars on Summerside Drive near Coyote Creek. A hospital report two days later described a man saying he owned the RV and had been violently carjacked with head and chest injuries. The man died Dec. 14 and was identified as 65-year-old Daniel Martinez by the county medical examiner-coroner. Crime Lab analysis matched wreck-site evidence and indicated Martinez was driving when the RV crashed, prompting classification as the 41st traffic death of 2025.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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