SAN JOSE — Investigators have concluded that a driver who died after a November wreck lied when he claimed to be a carjacking victim, presumably to avoid liability for the hit-and-run crash, according to the San Jose Police Department.
No driver was present when officers were called to the aftermath of a Nov. 22 evening collision in which a 1987 Toyota Odyssey RV hit several unoccupied parked cars on Summerside Drive about a block from Coyote Creek, police said.
Two days later, traffic detectives were alerted to a report from a local hospital in which a man claimed that he owned the RV and lost it to a violent carjacker who inflicted “head and chest injuries” on him, police said.
The man died Dec. 14. He has been identified by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office as 65-year-old Daniel Martinez, and did not have a listed city of residence.
Police said the coroner’s office discovered evidence during its death investigation suggesting that the man was not a carjacking victim as he claimed. Evidence was submitted to the county Crime Lab — run by the district attorney’s office — which confirmed last Thursday that matched the wreck site and indicated the man was driving the RV when it crashed, not his purported carjacker.
As a result, the fatal crash is being classified as the 41st traffic death of 2025, police said.
Anyone with information for investigators can contact SJPD Traffic Detective Rachel Bowen at 408-277-4654 or by email [email protected]. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.