A horrific wrong-way driving accident occurred Monday afternoon in which the pickup truck driven by a Florida man collided head-on with a woman’s Tesla, killing the woman and her 14-year-old passenger.
The accident occurred around 3:40 p.m. Monday on northbound Highway 85 in San Jose. The driver of a Toyota Tacoma pickup, Duncan McQuarrie, 39, of Orlando, Florida, was reportedly driving in the southbound lanes near the Santa Teresa Boulevard exit.
As KRON4 reports via the California Highway Patrol, several drivers called the CHP shortly before the crash to report the wrong-way driver. And a Reddit user posted a dashcam video showing the white pickup truck driving the wrong way in a left lane — speeding in a sort of buffer zone between the northbound lanes and a carpool lane.
The truck collided with a Tesla Model Y driven by a 47-year-old woman from San Jose. A 14-year-old boy, possibly her son, was in the passenger seat. Both died in the accident.
According to the CHP, it is not known whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the accident.
Another Reddit user commented on the video and said he saw where and how McQuarrie got onto the highway the wrong way.
“He got on 85 at the Saratoga exit,” writes user jb0009. “I was maybe a hundred yards from the exit when he drove up it. He was going very fast, crossed the dirt shoulder, kicked up a cloud of dust and spun across all four lanes. My son was in the car, we were on our way home from school. We called 911 and it took 3 minutes and 50 seconds to get through. The operator said others had called about the same incident.”
The accident caused a major traffic jam on Monday, with all northbound lanes of Highway 85 closed for four hours. Traffic was diverted to Highway 87.
McQuarrie is apparently no stranger to law enforcement. As NBC Bay Area reports, his arrest record shows several other arrests, including a citation earlier this year for driving without a license, one for cocaine possession in 2021, and a conviction for drunk driving in 2013.
Any other witnesses or anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call CHP at 408-961-0900.
Photo via Reddit
