Victim Of Fatal Crash Identified As Apple Employee: SCC Coroner

SANTA CLARA, CA — A woman who died in a crash in Santa Clara early Sunday after the ride-sharing car she was traveling in was broadsided by another vehicle has been identified as former Apple employee Carol Major, the Santa Clara County Coroner reported.

The 28-year-old Santa Clara resident was in the back seat of the car with another passenger who suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash reported shortly after 1:20 a.m. Sunday at Lawrence Expressway and Poinciana Drive. Both passengers and the ride-hailing driver were hospitalized, and Major died at the hospital due to her injuries.

The vehicle that plowed into the car Major was riding in was driven by a 32-year-old San Jose man, who was arrested on suspicion of multiple charges including murder in connection with the fatal crash, the Santa Clara Police Department reported.

A green-colored 1996 Honda Accord, which was reported stolen to the San Jose Police Department about a week before the crash, struck a grey-colored 2017 Honda Accord operating as a ride share vehicle.

On Saturday night a few hours before the crash, officers from the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety located the suspect’s green Accord in the parking lot of a business in the 900 block of Duane Avenue in Sunnyvale city limits., their officers established a surveillance on the vehicle.

When the suspect identified as Claudio Perez arrived at the vehicle and drove away, officers moved in, but the suspect failed to yield and drove recklessly through the parking lot. Due to the reckless manner in which the suspect drove, their officers did not initiate a pursuit. The vehicle was last seen driving eastbound on Duane Avenue towards Lawrence Expressway, Sunnyvale police reported.

At about 1:21 a.m. Sunday, an officer driving northbound on Lawrence Expressway came upon a traffic crash involving the suspect’s vehicle in Santa Clara.

The investigation showed that the ride share vehicle, driven by a male ride share driver and occupied by a male and a female passenger, was making a left turn from westbound Cabrillo Avenue onto southbound Lawrence Expressway. The suspect was driving southbound on Lawrence Expressway when he ran the red light at the intersection of Poinciana Drive, aka Cabrillo Avenue, and broadsided the ride share vehicle.

The impact of the collision resulted in a 28-year-old woman of Santa Clara later dying of her injuries at a local hospital. The male passenger, a 26-year-old resident of Sunnyvale, is in critical condition. The ride share driver, a 28-year-old Santa Clara resident, is also being treated at a local hospital.

Perez was booked into Santa Clara County main jail on accusations of murder, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs while causing an injury, evading a police officer and auto theft as well as a probation violation.

—Bay City News contributed to this report.