A bicyclist was struck and killed Monday afternoon near downtown San Jose, and now police are looking for the driver who they say didn't stop.
San Jose police said dispatchers received a 911 call at 3:25 p.m. with a report of a man down in the street in the area of Highway 87 and Taylor Street. When they got there, police found that the man had died.
The victim has been identified as 55-year-old Glen Earnest.
Earnest's mangled bike sat on the side of the road near the southbound onramp to Highway 87 at Taylor Street. The 87 onramp was closed as well as two eastbound lanes of Taylor at the height of the evening commute as police began to investigate what happened.
San Jose police say the driver, if caught, faces a felony hit and run charge.
They are looking for witnesses. So far, no one has come forward to say they witnessed the actual impact.
"One of our big questions is how many people actually saw this?" Sgt. Jason Dwyersaid. "Taylor Street in this stretch here tends to be pretty busy all day and right around three-o-clock there's some pretty heavy vehicular traffic".
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But the news did scare at least one other cyclist.
"I was horrified," said San Jose cyclist Dean Chavez when he heard about the fatal hit-and-run.
"People wanting to get on the freeway real fast and they won't allow the cyclists to cross even on a green."
Chavez said he sees dangerous driving behavior regularly. "I see people I'm trying to make eye contact with people and they're busy on their phones," he said.
This is San Jose's 19th traffic related fatality of 2013.
