The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has filed murder charges against a 31-year-old San Jose man who was driving his Telsa more than 140 mph on Highway 87 before he smashed into the back of a car, killing a woman and her 2-year-old child.

Prosecutors said Zachary Chernicky was speeding on the northbound side of the road at 142 mph 15 seconds before the crash, 126 mph 5 seconds before the crash, and 102 when he plowed into the back of the Lexus that had stopped in traffic. A 29-year-old woman and her two-year-old child were burned to death in the crash. The speed limit is 65, if the road is clear.

Chernicky was arraigned on Tuesday and remanded to jail without bail. His next court date is Aug. 25 in San Jose. He is charged with two counts of murder.

“The law says that it is murder when someone shoots into a crowd,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement this week. “When someone is driving 140 mph, then the driver is the shooter and their car is the bullet.”

At 10am on Dec.2, 2025, the California Highway Patrol said Chernicky speeding northbound on Highway 87, south of Curtner Avenue when he struck the victim’s car so hard that both the victim’s car and the car in front of them suffered major fire and crash damage. Chernicky suffered minor injuries in the crash.

The California Highway Patrol, which investigated the accident, arrested Chernicky on July 13.