Police say bicyclist, 7, struck, killed by driver in stolen SUV
Suspect arrested; passenger still on the loose, they say
MILPITAS >> A woman driving a stolen SUV linked to an armed robbery was fleeing officers when she hit and killed a 7-year-old boy riding a bicycle Monday afternoon, police said.
Kristalinna Pacheco, 36, of San Jose, was arrested on suspicion of murder, possession of a stolen vehicle and felony hit-and-run. Police said they were still searching for a man riding with her who took off in the vehicle.
Around 3:20 p.m. Monday, a Milpitas police officer spotted a white Lexus SUV that had been reported stolen in San Jose and was associated with a robbery at gunpoint in that city, according to a Milpitas police news release. It was traveling west on Calaveras Boulevard approaching Park Victoria Drive.
Neither that officer nor another who was in the vicinity attempted a traffic stop or was following the SUV, but the driver apparently saw one of them and decided to speed off, police said.
Shortly afterward, the SUV hit a 7-year-old boy on their bike at the intersection of Park Victoria and Kennedy drives, less than a half-mile north of Calaveras. The driver did not stop.
The child was rushed to the hospital but died from his injuries. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said it had no information to release about the victim Tuesday.
About a mile north of the crash site, Pacheco ditched the vehicle near Nicklaus Avenue and fled on foot, police said, but she was caught and arrested. Her passenger, described by police only as a blond man wearing glasses and a hat, got into the driver’s seat of the SUV and drove off.
Officers chased the SUV onto Interstate 680 and into Fremont but ended their pursuit after losing sight of the vehicle. The vehicle was described as a white 2015 Lexus SUV with California license plate 7KTA363.
Police ask that anyone who sees the vehicle or its driver call 911, and treat the suspect as armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information for investigators can contact Milpitas police at 408586-2400 or leave a tip at 408-586-2500 or online at ci.milpitas.ca.gov/crimetip.