Council candidate involved in crash that killed a 66-year-old man
San Jose City Council candidate Jenny Higgins Bradanini struck and killed a 66-year- old man while driving her vehicle earlier this week.
District 10 candidate Higgins Bradanini told her supporters in an email Wednesday evening that she was involved in the fatal collision and was taking time off of the campaign trail to “recover from this accident and grieve the loss of life.”
Higgins Bradanini, president and cofounder of Women’s March Bay Area, left a meeting at San Jose City Hall late Monday morning and was driving to her doctor in Los Gatos when she fatally struck a pedestrian about 11:40 a.m. on the 900 block of Blossom Hill Road, according to her campaign consultant Eric Stroker.
The pedestrian, who was identified by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner- Coroner’s Office as Timothy Starkey of Santa Cruz, died at the scene. Higgins Bradanini, who was driving alone in the vehicle, was not arrested.
In a statement released by Higgins Bradanini on Wednesday evening, the District 10 candidate said that she was “heartbroken anddeeply saddenedby this tragic death.”
“My heart goes out to the man’s family and loved ones as they are suffering this tragic loss,” Higgins Bradanini said in the statement. “Words cannot adequately express my sorrow, and I ask for your support in sending your thoughts and condolences to the devastated family.”
Sgt. Jamie Field of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police said Thursday that the collision and its cause are still under investigation. She would not release any additional information, including whether cellphone use played a role in the incident.
It is unclear at this time whether Higgins Bradanini will continue her campaign to represent residents in the city’s Almaden Valley area. Stroker said that she is “requesting privacy for the family impacted and for her as sheprocesseshernext steps.”
Higgins Bradanini is one of three candidates who qualified to put her name on the March 2020 ballot for the council’s District 10 seat, which will be vacated by Council member Johnny Khamis, who has termed out and is running for state Senate District 15. She faces tech entrepreneur Matt Mahan and businesswoman Helen Wang.