Laguna Niguel : Suspect in Ramming Faces Felony Charges

A trucker suspected of intentionally ramming a car and forcing it off Interstate 5 in San Juan Capistrano appeared in court Wednesday in Laguna Niguel to face felony charges.

Francisco Javier Nevarez, 40, of Tijuana was charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and failure to “render reasonable assistance” to injured persons, also a felony, court officials said. Nevarez also was charged with refusing to provide his name, address, trucker’s license and vehicle registration.

Nevarez, who was being held in the Orange County Jail on $10,000 bail, was ordered to appear April 7 for a preliminary hearing in South Orange County Municipal Court.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Avdeef, who filed the complaints, was not available for comment.

Nevarez was arrested Monday shortly after he allegedly struck a compact car twice with his tractor-trailer rig. The car rolled over two or three times down a freeway embankment, but the two women inside, Maria Trinidad Sanders, 39, and Elisa Gomez, 29, who were wearing seat belts, escaped serious injury.

After Nevarez was stopped in San Juan Capistrano, he showed officers only an ordinary California driver’s license and not one that qualified him to drive a truck.

A records search later showed that Nevarez had been convicted seven times for speeding in Texas during the 15 months preceding his transfer to the West Coast last November. He has been driving for the Mexican firm of Hidro Gas Juarez, which, according to company officials, sends large tractor-trailer rigs into California, Arizona and Texas to bring propane, an extremely flammable gas, back to Mexico.

Nevarez, who was driving for the Mexican firm on Monday, has said he was unaware that he had hit anyone until a fellow trucker informed him of the collision via citizens band radio, officers said.

California Highway Patrol Officer Wendy Lopes said that several calls have come in from people who saw the incident. One of the calls came from a U.S. treasury agent in Orange County who told authorities that he saw Nevarez’s truck and another one speeding in what appeared to be a race on the freeway just “moments” before the incident, Lopes said.