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Police are searching for the hit-and-run driver of a car that crashed into a family’s Toyota Camry at the intersection of Willow Road and Bayfront Expressway just before 2 p.m. on Nov. 12.
Six-year-old Menlo Park resident Lisa Xavier, a student at Laurel school in Atherton and a passenger in the back seat of the car, died of her injuries the following day at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.
The girl’s mother was also injured in the accident and taken to Stanford Hospital.
The family was driving eastbound on Willow Road to the Sun Microsystems campus when their Camry was struck by one of two vehicles engaged in a street race heading northbound on the expressway, said spokeswoman Nicole Acker of the Menlo Park Police Department.
Lisa’s father was driving the car, but he was uninjured in the collision, said Ms. Acker.
Witnesses saw the driver of the black 1989 Ford Mustang that struck the family’s car exit his vehicle and jump into a white Honda involved in the race, which then fled the scene, police said.
Police are “actively searching for” and want to question East Palo Alto resident Shannon Fox, 24, in connection with the accident, according to a police statement. Mr. Fox is described as a black man, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 220 pounds and muscular. He is not a suspect, but considered a “person of interest” in the homicide investigation, said Ms. Acker.
The Mustang’s owner was interviewed by police and is not believed to have been driving the vehicle at the time of the accident, Ms. Acker said.
A video clip from a surveillance camera at Sun Microsystems shows heavy traffic at the scene of the collision, and that at least one vehicle ran a red light before colliding with the vehicle carrying the victims, police said.
The intersection was closed for about two and a half hours after the accident, Sgt. Matthew Ortega said.
Police are asking anyone with information on this incident to call 330-6300 and ask for the watch commander.