Milpitas Man Dies In Multi-Vehicle Freeway Crash

A Milpitas man was killed and his passenger was seriously injured in a crash involving two cars and a tractor-trailer on southbound U.S. Highway 101 in Sunnyvale on Thursday night, according to the California Highway Patrol.

At 10:35 p.m., a blue 2004 Nissan 350Z driven by Raghuvendra Singh, 26, was approaching the southbound Highway 101 transition from northbound Mathilda Avenue.

Traveling at about 65 mph, an unsafe speed for the ramp, Singh failed to properly negotiate the turn and the Nissan careened into the path of a Kenworth tractor-trailer barreling down the center lane of Highway 101, the CHP said.

The impact shot the Nissan across two lanes of traffic, into the fast lane, where it was hit a second time by a white 1997 Toyota Corolla moving at about 65 mph before both cars came to a stop in the lane, the CHP said.

Singh suffered major head and abdominal injuries, CHP Officer Ralph Caggiano said. He was transported to Stanford Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 12:14 a.m.

A passenger in the Nissan, 22-year-old Manan Kadia of Santa Clara, suffered a major spinal cord injury from the crash, Caggiano said. Kadia was also taken to Stanford Medical Center for treatment.

Both the driver of the tractor-trailer, 40-year-old Marco Velasquez, and that of the Toyota, 47-year-old Dien Kim Le, walked away from the crash uninjured, the CHP said.

A preliminary investigation indicated that alcohol was not a factor and that Singh had been wearing his seatbelt, the CHP said.

The accident blocked three lanes of Highway 101 traffic in Sunnyvale for almost two hours.