Drivers who survived San Jose hijackings honored for courage

SAN JOSE — Carlos Zarate was starting his early-morning route driving a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus two years ago when an agitated man got on and insisted on sitting on a front railing, unusually close to the driver’s controls.

The man didn’t pay any fare, but he did have an even more unusual demand: He wanted to be taken to Daly City.

The VTA has no route that extends that far into the Peninsula; it’s primarily a South Bay transit service. That did not appear to dissuade Zarate’s surprise free rider, who within a couple of minutes pulled out a 26-inch machete he had concealed in his pants.

Zarate, now 30, kept his cool. He stayed on his San Jose-based route to avoid drawing the ire of the man who effectively had him at knifepoint. At one point he made a stop and saw an elderly woman try to board; he recognized her as one of his regular passengers and told her in Spanish to stay off the bus.

Growing suspicious, the machete-carrying man warned him not to make any more stops, telling him that unless he was taken directly to Daly City, he would “do a shooting,” then directly threatened Zarate: “You are playing with your life.”

What the assailant didn’t know was that Zarate had already activated a silent alarm that alerted Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies.

The bus had reached Stevens Creek Boulevard near Santana Row when a deputy pulled up alongside and asked Zarate if he was ok. The driver said nothing while doing his best to signal that he was in trouble; the deputy conducted a traffic stop.

Zarate now had to put on the most important acting performance of his life. When the machete-carrying man demanded to know why police were there, he told him he had gotten pulled over for making an illegal turn. And as Zarate stepped off the bus, explaining that he was going to resolve things with the deputy, he kept the armed man on board by reassuring him that he was going to take him to Daly City.

Moments later, deputies moved in and arrested the man, who Zarate had worked to ensure was the lone passenger on this harrowing ride.

This May 23, 2022 ordeal was never widely known to the public until Thursday, when Zarate was recognized for his bravery by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, which presented him its perennial Courage Award named after former prosecutor Karyn Sinunu-Towery.

“If we picture ourselves on that bus that day, we’d like to think that we’d remain as calm, strong, clear-thinking, and brave as Mr. Zarate in the face of that fear,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said at his office’s annual staff awards ceremony. “Mr. Zarate does not have to imagine what he would do; he’s already done it. He is an inspiration.”

In an interview, Zarate said the main goal in his mind was to reunite with his eight-month-old daughter.

“It was just about surviving, and trying to keep calm, and get home to my family,” he said.

But he also says the experience lingers with him: “I went through all the what-ifs, and it really messed me up. So I’m happy about (how it ended), but it’s bittersweet.”

It hasn’t stopped him from driving a bus, which he has now done for six years. But it has made him more vigilant than before.

“I pay attention to my passengers, and take care of my regulars,” he said.

Another driver who was recognized with the same award was Mitch Ellerd, who famously kept his composure after he and his UPS truck were hijacked on Valentine’s Day 2019. The shotgun-toting couple who took him and the vehicle had moments earlier gotten into a frenetic chase that included them shooting at trailing police officers near a South San Jose VTA light-rail station and on Highway 87.

Ellerd was making deliveries on Communications Hill when he was confronted by Mark Morasky and Joanna Mae Macy-Rodgers. At gunpoint, they made Ellerd drive them away, but the driver kept the truck moving at a modest speed to allow law enforcement to stay close. After he unsuccessfully tried to jump out of the truck, he told the pair that the vehicle had a speed-governing device installed that prevented it from going any faster.

Then, as the truck reached North First Street and Trimble Road, he purposefully drove into a set of tire spikes that had been laid down by police to disable his truck. From then, a standoff ensued for several hours, during which Macy-Rodgers exited and surrendered.

That left Ellerd and Morasky in the truck. Morasky reportedly told police that he was not going back to prison following previous convictions for carjacking and robbery, and told Ellerd, “We’re dying today.” But Morasky apparently had a change of heart after the two shared photos of their daughters, and allowed Ellerd to leave.

Morasky was shot and killed a few minutes later after he ran from the truck, holding the shotgun and headed toward a group of people who had been cordoned off from the standoff site.

Ellerd has been recognized in the media, and by law enforcement, for his actions while in distress. He was not present for Thursday’s ceremony, but in a videotaped message, he appeared to be humbled by the honor.

“I don’t see what I did as being heroic. I look at it as, I was there, I just reacted to what was in front of me,” he said in the video, adding that he was “beyond grateful” to be considered a hero by some.

Macy-Rodgers pleaded guilty last fall to charges of attempted murder of a peace officer, carjacking and false imprisonment. She faces a potential lifetime prison term when she is sentenced March 26.

For the two courage awardees, Rosen noted that Ellerd testified in the preliminary hearing for Macy-Rodgers, and that Zarate later testified in San Francisco in another hijacking case involving his captor.

“These two men showed bravery that amazes, that inspires, that saved lives,” he said.