Vendor dies after being hit by vehicle

Deadly collision Sunday at Tropicana center hours after SUV plowed into diners at Grand Century mall

SAN JOSE >> A few hours after a man reportedly lost control of his SUV and plowed into a group of outdoor diners at the Grand Century mall, a woman claims she accidentally accelerated into a food cart at a shopping plaza a mile away, killing a man, according to police.

The deadly collision was reported at 6:09 p.m. Sunday in a parking lot of La Placita Tropicana shopping center, at Story and King roads. According

to a San Jose police news release, the driver of a 2009 Ford F-150 pickup truck was trying to park when she says she “accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake,” causing the truck to lurch forward and hit a man standing near a food cart.

The injured man was taken to the hospital, where he died early Monday, police said. His name was not released pending his formal identification and notification of his next of kin by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner- Coroner’s Office.

But an eyewitness who narrowly escaped serious injury says the collision involved a lot more driver recklessness than what has been officially reported. Fatima Soria says she was with her former husband and 2-year- old son when shortly after they walked past the food cart and an attached merchant cart, the pickup truck hit the food cart and the man who appeared to be operating both.

Soria said the impact forced her ex-husband to grab their son and dive out of the way, while she was hit by one of the carts sent askew by the impact with the truck.

“I heard it, I turned and it was too late, all I saw was the cart coming at me, and I got thrown to the wall,” Soria said. “I thought it was the cart exploding, it just came at me. There was a second cart attached to food cart, that (also) hit me.”

“I tried to get up, and saw her (the driver) jumping from the driver seat to the passenger seat. I immediately called 911,” she added. “That man, he

died, and she didn’t check to see if he was OK. She was just standing there.”

Soria and her family were evaluated at a local hospital but none of them was seriously injured. She said that shortly before the collision she saw the driver, inside the truck, loudly arguing with a man standing outside, who she believed was the driver’s husband or partner.

“T hey were fighting, and then she just took off,” she said. “Then they tried to lie about it. I can’t let her get away with that. The truth is important.”

T he collision marked the city’s 39th roadway death of the year and its 16th such death involving a pedestrian victim.

Police said the driver of the truck stayed at the scene, and there was no indication that she was arrested or cited.

E a rl ier in t he d ay, a rou nd 1 2: 30 p. m., a 69- year- old man drove his white 2000 Toyota 4Runner into an awningcovered area where people were dining outside the Grand Century shopping center at Story and McLaughlin Avenue. Eight people were injured — including two w ith lifethreatening injuries — along with the driver, who police say may have had a medical emergency when he drove into the victims.

When asked Monday if that medical emergency has been confirmed, police did not offer any additional information.

Seven hours after the fatal collision at Story and K ing, around 2 a. m., a man was shot and killed in his car at the same intersection.

Anyone with information about the deadly crash in the Tropicana lot can contact traffic Detective Matt Templeman at 408-277- 4654.