San Jose, CA, September 26 – A woman riding a bicycle was struck and killed by a pickup truck early Friday morning at the intersection of Capitol Expressway and Ocala Avenue, according to the San Jose Police Department. The crash was reported around 6:15 a.m., prompting a response from police officers and paramedics. Investigators found a 2017 white Ford F-350 pickup truck and a bicycle at the scene. The woman suffered severe injuries and was pronounced dead by paramedics at the location. The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.
San Jose Bicyclist Killed in Pickup Truck Collision at Capitol Expressway and Ocala Avenue
According to a preliminary investigation by the San Jose Police Department, the pickup truck was traveling north on Capitol Expressway and entered the intersection on a green light when it struck the bicyclist, who was riding east on Ocala Avenue. The truck was identified as a 2017 white Ford F-350. The bicycle involved in the crash was also located at the scene.
Paramedics who responded to the scene pronounced the woman dead after she sustained grave injuries in the collision, the San Jose Police Department said. Her identity has not been released. The driver of the pickup truck remained at the scene following the crash and cooperated with responding officers and investigators.
The San Jose Police Department said the investigation into the crash is ongoing. The department has not released the identities of the bicyclist or the driver, and it remains unclear whether any charges are being considered. Beyond the preliminary account of each vehicle’s direction of travel, further details about how the collision occurred have not been made public.
What California law requires of drivers around cyclists
Vehicle Code section 21760, the Three Feet for Safety Act, requires a driver overtaking a bicycle travelling in the same direction to pass at a distance of at least three feet between any part of the vehicle and any part of the bicycle or its rider. Passing closer than that is a violation of the section rather than a matter of judgment.
Section 22517 covers the other common way a cyclist is hurt without being struck from behind. No person may open the door of a vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe to do so, and no door may be left open longer than is necessary to load or unload passengers.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
