Family Of Hit-And-Run Victim Seeks Answers As San Jose Traffic Fatalities Continue To Rise
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- A man was fatally struck by a vehicle in San Jose early Wednesday morning, making it the city's 24th vehicle vs. pedestrian fatality. The city is on pace to have its deadliest year ever.
The 24 deaths in 2019 ties last year's number with a month to go in 2019.
Around 4 a.m. Wednesday morning, San Jose police got a call of a man down at Foxworthy Avenue and Rubino Drive. They arrived to find Hieu Dinh face down on the curb and pronounced him dead at the scene.
Man Dinh came to scene Wednesday morning stunned, in shock and looking for answers. Why would a driver hit his brother, flee the scene and leave him there to die?
"Confused right now, you know? I don't know what's going on," he said.
There were no witnesses, so Dinh's father and brother are pleading for the public's help.
WATCH: CBSN Bay Area – 24/7 Digital News Channel from KPIX 5
"If you see something, help my family and call the police," said Chinh Dinh, the victim's father.
"Anybody see something or hear something, can you call the police and let them know? Thank you," said Man Dinh.
2019 has been an especially deadly year for pedestrians in San Jose with 53 total traffic fatalities, exceeding last year's total.
"We went over last year's total now, and we're expecting to have to deal with more during this month of December," said John Ristow with the San Jose Department of Transportation.
Ristow says preventing the deaths is his department's highest priority.
Over the coming months, the DoT will be installing more traffic calming measures, such as plastic bollards, and will restripe lanes to slow down traffic. More pedestrian crossings with flashing lights will be present, and you and expect to see more police officers writing tickets.
"We see this as a big issue because we can see that trend going the wrong way. Our biggest takeaway is, with council and mayor support, which I know we have, to actually reverse that trend and have it head the other way," Ristow said.
