A teen who was severely injured in a hit-and-run in San Jose more than 11 years ago died this week as a result of her injuries, according to San Jose police.
On Jan. 8, 2011, at about 1:10 a.m., officers responded to the area of Camden and Bascom avenues on a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. According to the preliminary investigation, an unknown make gray or silver sedan traveling eastbound on Camden struck a teen girl in a marked crosswalk, police said. The girl, identified as Shae Shaw, was taken to a local hospital with major injuries.
The driver fled the scene and was never identified or located.
After the crash, Shae was in a coma and subsequently became a quadriplegic, police said. She died of her injuries April 19 while in hospice care.
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“She was fun, she was beautiful, she was just becoming a young woman, I didn’t get a chance to see much because she left,” said her mother Cari Shaw. “She passed from kidney failure, had it not been for a traumatic brain injury, she probably could have told us right, but it didn’t happen that way."
These types of cases are the reason why San Jose police have started installing license plate reading cameras.
The four cameras on Monterey and Curtner Avenue are part of a pilot program aimed at helping police identify cars involved in crashes, or even traffic violations.
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They were installed this week and more are slated for coming weeks.
Shae’s mother asks why it’s taken so long.
“My hope is to fix the intersections better, have more police officers ticketing people that are speeding,” said Cari.
Police said they are reopening the hit-and-run investigation.
It is San Jose's 26th fatal crash and 28th traffic death, including 16 pedestrians, in 2022.
Anyone with information on this investigation should contact Detective Bowen of the San José Police Department's Traffic Investigations Unit at 408-277-4654 or at 4461@sanjoseca.gov. Remain anonymous by using the P3TIPS mobile app, calling the tip line at (408) 947-STOP, or on www.svcrimestoppers.org.
