Victim falls to parking lot below after BMW driver hits cars stopped for previous collision
SAN JOSE — A man died after being thrown from a freeway overpass when two cars that were stopped for a crash on Interstate 280 were hit by another driver early Sunday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP officers were called at about 2:20 a.m. to the northbound lanes just past the Fourth Street on-ramp in downtown San Jose for reports of two successive crashes in the far-left lane.
An initial investigation found that a 1972 Chevy Impala had traveled onto the freeway from the on-ramp and soon after was hit by a Toyota Prius. After the collision, both cars stopped in the far left lane, and both drivers got out of their vehicles, the CHP said.
Soon after, a 2008 BMW 328i sedan traveling at “a high rate of speed” hit the two stopped cars, causing a chain reaction that ended with the Impala’s driver being hit and knocked off the elevated freeway.The victim landed in a parking lot below and died at the scene. He was identified Monday by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office as 40-year-old Robert Serrano of San Jose.
The driver of the BMW, a 24-year-old Sunnyvale man, suffered minor injuries, and so did his passenger, a 24-year-old San Jose man. Both men were taken to Regional Medical Center for complaints of pain, the CHP said.A CHP news release mentioned that “alcohol was a factor in the crash,” but the agency did not specify whether that applied to the initial crash or the second crash that resulted in the death. There was no indication that anyone had been cited or arrested as of Sunday morning.
Anyone with information about the Sunday crash can contact the CHP San Jose area field office at 408-961-0900.