The Region - News from March 25, 1987

Records disclosed that a trucker accused of having intentionally rammed a compact car, sending it hurtling off Interstate 5 near San Juan Capistrano, had seven speeding convictions in Texas during the past two years. Francisco Javier Nevarez, 40, of Tijuana, was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and felony hit-and-run after witnesses identified him to California Highway Patrol officers. He remains in Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail. The two women in the car, who were wearing seat belts, were not seriously hurt. Alfonso Gallegos, general manager of Hidro Gas Juarez, which employed Nevarez to drive tractor-trailer rigs, said he was not aware that he had been convicted of speeding four times in 1985 and three times in 1986. “He was one of my most reliable drivers,”Gallegos said.