Suspect Arrested in Hit-and-Run That Killed 3

National City police, with the help of telephone tips, arrested a 22-year-old San Diego man Saturday night on suspicion of three hit-and-run homicides.

Pablo Salvador Cabrera was caught after a short freeway chase south on Interstate 5 after he had been spotted in Clairemont.

Lt. Bill Osburn said that National City police had received numerous calls since the Thursday hit-and-run accident in which a pregnant National City woman and her 5-year-old daughter were struck and killed while crossing East 18th Street.

Martha Lidia Zamudio, 25, was about eight months pregnant when she and her daughter, Lili Beth Zamudio, were struck by a tan station wagon and dragged a short distance before the driver sped away. Attempts to save the unborn baby were unsuccessful.

Cabrera and a cousin, Luis Padilla, 18, of Riverside, were spotted by four National special response teams as the pair pulled out of a gas station near Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Balboa Avenue about 7 p.m. Saturday night, Osburn said.

Two of the unmarked police cars chased and attempted to stop the car driven by Padilla as it headed south on Interstate 5. The arrest was made near the Front Street exit in downtown San Diego, after “we stuck a gun in his face” and forced the Cabrera car to a halt, Osburn said.

Padilla was released after questioning. Osburn said Padilla said he was not aware of the hit-and-run incident when he responded to a call from Cabrera to come to San Diego.

The Riverside man tried to convince Cabrera to give himself up to police when the National City officers spotted the pair in Clairemont, Osburn said.

Earlier, police had contacted Cabrera by telephone and arranged for him to give himself up. But Cabrera did not appear at the agreed-upon meeting place.

Cabrera was booked into County Jail in downtown San Diego on suspicion of three counts of motor vehicle homicide, one count of felony hit-and-run and driving on a suspended driver’s license.