By Khalida Sarwari
State Highway 85 in San Jose is expected to reopen five hours after it was closed in both directions this afternoon after two bank robbery suspects crashed while attempting to flee from police.
There was concern that the crashed car contained explosives, but the car has been cleared and appears to be harmless, said California Highway Patrol Officer D.J. Sarabia.
The roadway is expected to reopen around 4:30 p.m.
The crash happened around 11:40 a.m. on northbound Highway 85 just south of the connector to northbound state Highway 87, according to police.
Sarabia said the crash involved a blue Honda and an SUV or minivan. The Honda is the car that police are investigating.
The car’s two occupants were wanted for a robbery at the Bank of America at 5615 Snell Ave. in San Jose, police said. Police received calls about the robbery at 11:36 a.m.
San Jose police Officer Jose Garcia said one suspect walked into the bank with “some type of device,” and threatened the teller, who handed over to him an undisclosed amount of cash.
The suspect then left the bank and jumped into a waiting blue Honda. Shortly thereafter, a motorist approached an officer in the area and reported that a blue Honda had crashed about a mile away on the freeway.
“Quickly officers realized, ‘hey that might be our suspect,'” Garcia said.
They went to the scene of the crash and determined it was the same vehicle that was involved in the Bank of America robbery.
Officers arrested one suspect at the crash scene, but the second took off running and hopped over a fence at Gunderson High School, located at 622 Gaundabert Lane.
Gunderson, which is adjacent to Highway 85, was placed on lockdown for about an hour starting at about 11:30 a.m.
“Police called and said two suspects were loose and had gone on our property,” said Karen Fuqua, a spokeswoman for the San Jose Unified School District.
The suspect was arrested by motorcycle officers on the baseball field, where he had hopped over a fence.
The lockdown was lifted at about 12:30 p.m., Fuqua said.
“Everyone’s fine. The kids are out at lunch,” said a teacher at the school who requested not to be named.
Neither suspect was armed, Garcia said.
One suspect was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening, Garcia said. They have not yet been booked.
Traffic on Highway 85 is being diverted onto the Santa Teresa Boulevard exit.
