San Jose family looking for answers after 75-year-old grandma fatally struck by suspected DUI bicyclist

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — A family in San Jose is looking for answers after their 75-year-old mother and grandmother was fatally struck by a bicyclist who police suspect was riding under the influence.

Adela Naldoza loved to dance. Her family said she went to Hillview Park in East San Jose almost every day to walk or exercise.

But on one evening, everything changed. San Jose Police say on Aug. 27, Naldoza was struck by a bicyclist while walking along a bike lane on Ocala Avenue. Kalita Naldoza, one of her daughters, explained her mother’s injuries from the collision were critical.

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“They had to do an emergency craniotomy for decompression and doctors told us that it didn’t look good at all,” Naldoza said.

But after six days in the hospital, Adela died on Sept. 2.

“All of us are so confused, like, how did this happen to someone walking? There are a lot of people walking here. And that section is huge, it’s like at least 10 plus feet,” Naldoza said.

San Jose Police say the bicyclist remained at the scene he was shortly arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail for suspicion of DUI.

During a press conference Thursday, San Jose Police Senior Public Information Representative Stacie Shih said Adela and the bicyclist were going in the same direction, westbound on Ocala.

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“During the investigation, they found he was under the influence of a controlled substance,” Shih said.

We spoke to Adela’s son, Steve Naldoza.

“He made bad choices, and it was a choice to be impaired. So I mean, if anything, we hear of DUI’s all the time, and to be a DUI on a bicycle that’s insane,” Steve Naldoza said.

Adela is a mother of five. Her children launched a GoFundMe that will now go towards end-of-life expenses. In 2003, Adela beat colon cancer.

“She wanted to live and that’s why she wanted to keep a healthy life after the cancer, I mean, she went through my dad’s passing while going through chemo,” Steven Naldoza said.

“Seventy-five-year-old woman just walking in a park alone, she’s supposed to be here, she’s supposed to be here another 20 years,” Kalita Naldoza said.

San Jose Police said the toxicology report of the bicyclist has not been released.