One dead, one injured after truck plows into East San Jose home

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) – A South Bay family was shaken but unscathed Friday morning when an out-of-control truck plowed through a brick wall and into their home while they were inside with the crash killing one of the two men in the vehicle.

The incident happened on Sprucegate Court in East San Jose. A mother and her two teenage sons were home when they heard what they said sounded like an earthquake.

Authorities said around 10:45 a.m., a white Chevy truck was speeding south on Ruby Avenue when the driver somehow lost control. The truck smashed through a wall and surrounding trees before it struck the home and came to rest in the backyard.

Sky Fox got video of the aftermath of the crash. The badly smashed up truck took out the home's sliding glass door, leaving shattered glass and debris everywhere.

Chris Lee owns the home. His wife and two children were inside at the time.

"At the time they didn't know what was going on," said Lee. "They thought it was an earthquake until they realized things were a lot more severe than what they thought."

"It just happened so fast. I can't even put words together," said witness Evan Mora.

Mora was outside talking to his dad when he heard a large boom and rushed to help.

"The car was on fire," remembered Mora. "The car was all damaged, banged up. I couldn't tell what car it was. There were two people in there. One person was yelling for help. The family's house that got hit was going crazy."

Two people were trapped inside the truck. Mora and his friend grabbed shovels to pry the car doors open. A passenger who witnesses describe as a man in his 40’s or 50’s died.

It took firefighters 20 minutes to get the 39-year-old driver out. He was taken to a nearby trauma center.

"The speed they were going out was way too fast for the area and the conditions," said Lt. Mike King of San Jose Police. "Speed is probably the main factor here, but that's yet to be determined."

The crash all unfolded in front of Evergreen Valley High School.

"As you see we are in school zone," said San Jose Fire Battalion Chief Reggie Williams. "We are very fortunate that summer school and there were not more people on the street that could have been injured."

It’s still under investigation if the driver was under the influence.