Police arrest driver in hit-and-run pedestrian fatality

SAN JOSE >> A driver has been arrested in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a pedestrian in North San Jose last week, police said.

The fatal collision was reported at 5:39 a.m. Feb. 17 on Morrill Avenue near Knights Bridge Road, just north of Hostetter Road, according to San Jose police.

Responding police officers found a gravely injured woman at the site and rushed her to a local hospital, where she died a short time later, police said. Her name has not been publicly released pending her formal identification and notification of her next of kin by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office.

An ensuing investigation, drawing on homesecurity footage from nearby homes, determined that the driver of a dark-colored sedan was southbound on Morrill Avenue when she hit the victim who was crossing the roadway, then drove away.

Police noted that the pedestrian was outside a marked crosswalk, but under California law, unmarked crosswalks exist where roads meet at right angles — which is the case at Knights Bridge Road — and a recent law change permits pedestrians to cross the street outside of intersections when safe.

On Saturday, again using the surveillance images from the site, police said a patrol search of nearby residential streets located the sedan they believe was involved in the fatal collision.

That led to the arrest of 60-year-old Kim Ngan Thi Mai on suspicion of one count of felony hit and run; police said she was booked and released after posting bail, which according to the county's bail schedule would have been $50,000.

Police also revised the earlier report that the victim was subsequently hit by a second vehicle, a full-sized U-Haul panel van. After further investigation, police said while initial video seemed to show a second impact, detectives determined that the van never made contact with the injured victim.

The collision marked the city's fifth traffic death of the year, and the third involving a pedestrian.

Anyone with information about the hit-andrun case can contact traffic Detective Michael O'Brien at 408-277-4654 or 3527@sanjoseca. gov.

Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or svcrimestoppers.org.