SAN JOSE — Police say a driver possibly suffering a medical emergency touched off a five-car chain-reaction crash near Westfield Oakridge Mall on Saturday afternoon that left another motorist dead, and forced officers to pull the initial driver and a child from their burning vehicle.
According to San Jose police, the series of collisions was reported at 3:54 p.m. and began when a man driving a silver 2020 Mercedes-Benz sedan headed south on Santa Teresa Boulevard hit the driver’s side of a green 2016 Kia sedan that had just entered the outer left-turn lane for eastbound Blossom Hill Road.
The collision caused both cars to hit a white 2024 Tesla sedan that was already stopped in the left-turn lane, and the Tesla then rear-ended a green 2004 BMW sedan also stopped in the turn lane, police said. The Kia also hit a white 2014 Toyota sedan stopped in an adjacent turn lane.
As the crash subsided, police said the Mercedes caught fire and responding police officers pulled the driver and underage passenger from the burning wreck.
The Kia driver was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. She has been identified by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office as Kimberly Sara Rose McKenzie Karnes, 33, of San Jose.
Police said the people in the Mercedes, the Tesla occupants — a man, woman and minor — and a woman driving the Toyota were all taken to hospitals with “varying injuries.” The BMW driver, whose vehicle was the second hit in the sequence, was not injured.
The Mercedes driver spoke to officers after the crash, police said, and there is no indication anyone was arrested or cited. A precise cause for the collision remains under investigation, but a police source said detectives are investigating the possibility that the Mercedes driver suffered an unspecified medical emergency that caused him to lose control of his car.
Police noted that there is no indication alcohol or drugs impaired any of the motorists.
The crash marked the city’s 18th traffic death of the year; the city had recorded nine roadway deaths at the same point in 2025, according to data complied by this news organization.
Anyone with information for investigators can contact the SJPD traffic investigations unit at 408-277-4654 or email Detective Tori DelliCarpini at 4103@sanjoseca.gov.