Vehicle strikes, kills bicyclist in San Jose; driver arrested with aid of automated license plater readers

By Carlos E. Castañeda

A vehicle struck and killed a bicyclist over the weekend in San Jose, and the suspected driver fled but was later located with the help of automated license plate reader cameras, police said.

The San Jose Police Department said in a press release that officers were dispatched at about 2:29 a.m. on Saturday to the area of Coleman Avenue and W. Hedding Street, just south of San Jose Mineta International Airport, for a report of a hit-and-run crash involving a vehicle and a bicyclist. 

Police said the preliminary investigation indicated that a blue 2023 Tesla sedan was heading north on Coleman Avenue, approaching Hedding Street at a high rate of speed, and struck a man on a bicycle who was crossing Coleman outside of any marked crosswalk. 

The bicyclist was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The driver, an adult male, fled before officers arrived.

Using the city’s automated license plate reader camera system, officers determined the suspect vehicle’s direction of travel and later found the Tesla unoccupied in an undisclosed location, according to police.

The suspected driver later returned to the vehicle and exhibited symptoms of being under the influence, police said. Officers arrested the driver and booked him into the Santa Clara County Main Jail.

This incident was the city’s fifth fatal collision and fifth traffic death of 2026. The victim’s name was withheld until the Santa Clara County Office of the Medical Examiner could notify family members.

Anyone with information about the incident was urged to contact Detective White #4638 of the Police Department’s traffic unit at 4638@sanjoseca.gov or 408-277-4654.