Sunnyvale: Man dies after crashing car into Walgreens

SUNNYVALE — A man died in a fiery car crash into a drug store that seriously injured his two passengers early Sunday, and investigators believe alcohol played a part in the deadly outcome, authorities said.

Officers and firefighters with the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety were called at 2:25 a.m. to a Walgreens at South Sunnyvale Avenue and Old San Francisco Road, just off El Camino Real, after being told a vehicle had collided with a building.

They arrived to find a sedan engulfed in flames, and an unconscious driver still inside. The department said in a news release that the emergency crews were unable to rescue the driver “due to untenable fire conditions.” He was later pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver’s name has not been publicly released by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office pending his formal identification and notification of his next of kin.

A man and woman who were passengers in the car were able to get out of the wreck, and were taken to the hospital with major injuries, the department said. They were later interviewed, and afterward the department announced that “speed and alcohol are believed to be a contributing factor in the collision.”

Capt. Dzanh Le said the damage to the drug store was largely cosmetic, though the car fire ignited a tree and partially melted an awning attached to the building.

Anyone who witnessed or has information about the fatal Sunday morning crash can contact the department’s Major Accident Investigation Team and ask for investigator Maxwell Longanecker at 408-730-7109.