The four-vehicle collision resulted in the deaths of a 29-year-old woman and her one-year-old daughter.
player ready... SAN JOSE — A man was arrested and charged with two counts of murder this week after being found to be at fault for a December collision on Highway 87 that resulted in the deaths of an adult woman and her infant daughter — with his vehicle allegedly reaching speeds greater than 140 miles per hour in the seconds before the crash, authorities said.
Zachary Chernicky, a 31-year-old resident of San Jose, was taken into custody without incident on Monday, according to a news release from the California Highway Patrol’s San Jose office. He was charged with two counts of murder, according to a news release from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
“The law says that it is murder when someone shoots into a crowd,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a news release. “When someone is driving 140 mph, then the driver is the shooter and their car is the bullet. ”Shortly before 11 a.m. on Dec. 2, emergency responders reported to a. Three of the vehicles involved in the crash — a Lexus and two Teslas — caught fire.
The two people who died of burn injuries were riding in the Lexus, authorities said. Passengers in other involved vehicles also suffered injuries. The victims were identified as Ivana Balistreri, a 29-year-old resident of San Jose, and Lilliana Martins, a one-year-old resident of San Jose, according to the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office. Lilliana was Balistreri’s daughter, according to aAbout 15 seconds before the collision, Chernicky was driving his vehicle at 142 mph, authorities said.
Five seconds before the crash, he was driving at 126 mph. At the time he collided with the Lexus, which was stopped for traffic, Chernicky’s car was traveling at 102 mph. Northbound Highway 87 was closed to drivers for several hours while the incident was under investigation, authorities added. After the collision, authorities carried out an investigation and determined that Chernicky, the driver of one of the Teslas, was at fault, they said.
An arrest warrant was obtained. Chernicky will next appear in court Aug. 25 at 1:30 p.m. in Dept. 31 of San Jose’s Hall of Justice.
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