Man Has Drunk-Driving Conviction on Record : Suspect in Fatal Crash Had License Revoked in 1981

The man who triggered a four-car accident in Santa Ana on Monday, resulting in the fiery deaths of a woman and her 5-year-old daughter, has been convicted of drunk driving and has not had a valid driver’s license since it was revoked in 1981, authorities said Tuesday.

James Clifford Logan, 28, of San Pedro was arrested on suspicion of felony manslaughter after the crash on West 17th Street that killed Blanca M. Estela and her daughter, Jenny Fraga.

Burned to Death

Autopsies conducted Tuesday showed that the woman and child from Orange burned to death.

Santa Ana police said they were trapped in the mother’s 1973 Ford Mustang after it was rear-ended by Logan and exploded in flames.

Logan, who is unemployed, fled the crash site on foot but was persuaded by relatives to surrender to police about two hours after the collision, officers said.

Department of Motor Vehicles records show that Logan was involved in a minor Garden Grove collision on July 30, 1984, which he failed to report to the DMV.

No one was injured in that “fender bender,” said Garden Grove Police Lt. Chuck Gibbs. He said Logan was not at fault but was cited for driving without a license.

Logan was first arrested for drunk driving in January, 1981, and convicted in West Orange County Municipal Court in March of that year. He was fined $456 and sentenced to three years’ probation, records show.

License Suspended

Logan’s license expired in April, 1981. DMV records show that it was suspended the following August because he failed to appear for a reexamination hearing.

In November, 1983, Logan was cited for making an illegal turn through an intersection and driving without a license. He was convicted five months later, DMV records show.

Three months after the July, 1984, crash in Garden Grove, Logan was cited for speeding and driving without a license. Records show that he was convicted of those charges last January.

On Dec. 28, 1985, Logan was cited again for driving without a license. DMV records show that he was convicted of that charge last June and sentenced to three years’ probation.

Records did not state where Logan was cited in any case except the Garden Grove collision, a DMV spokesman said Tuesday.

Stopped in Traffic

On Monday afternoon, Blanca Estela had been stopped in heavy traffic in the 3800 block of West 17th Street at about 4 p.m., when her car was rear-ended by Logan’s vehicle and pushed into two cars with such force that the gas tank exploded, police said.

Logan fled as three passers-by tried in vain to rescue the mother and daughter from the burning car.

Logan is being held in the county jail ward at UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was treated for cuts and bruises.

Those who knew the girl and her mother, who lived with her husband, Saul, in Orange, gathered at their home Tuesday to grieve. They declined to talk to reporters.

The drivers of the two other cars involved in the chain-reaction collision suffered minor injuries, police said.