The State - News from Sept. 14, 1987

A driver and his passenger were arrested for investigation of three counts of second-degree murder after a hit-and-run accident in which a car jumped a curb and struck and killed three children playing in the front yard of a home, San Jose police said. The suspect, Jose Santa Bugarin, 26, of San Jose, had $20,000 worth of arrest warrants for driving after his license was suspended in 1982, police spokesman Howard Carter said. Carter said passenger Rodolfo Alvaro Escobar, 31, of Morgan Hill, stood up through a sun roof and directed Bugarin as they fled because the damaged hood of the car impaired his view. The car hit a van about three-quarters of a mile from the accident scene and came to rest on another lawn, police said. Alvaro also was arrested for investigation of murder. Killed in the accident were: Bernice Marquez, 6; Cesar Lopez, 5, and Lopez’s older brother, Jose, 11.