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Yellow Cab driver killed by speeding motorist
Driver that hit cab had prior convictions for unsafe driving
By Kate Carter
Just days after a South Bay cab driver was found shot to death, another driver was killed on Sept. 30, when an out-of-control motorist slammed into his cab in San Jose.
Bill Bernardasci, 70, a driver who contracted with Willow Glen's Yellow Cab company, was killed when the motorist broadsided his cab.
The other driver, Gerardo Villalobos Huerta, was also killed in the accident, San Jose police said.
Huerta, 19, was speeding in his 1991 Chevrolet Camaro southbound on North 15th Street when he ran a stop sign at East Julian Street and hit Bernardasci's 1985 Chevrolet Caprice station wagon at about 11:20 p.m., police said.
Neither driver was wearing a seat belt.
The impact propelled both cars into a tree and several other cars parked near the intersection.
At the time of the crash, police were already responding to five calls from neighbors in the area who complained the Camaro driver was speeding recklessly through the residential neighborhood.
A cell phone caller even tried to follow the speeding Camaro while on the line with dispatchers, but police said he could not keep up with the other car--which he estimated was driving at 75 to 90 miles per hour. The speed limit in the area is 25 miles per hour.
Evidence indicates that one of the Camaro's tires had separated from the rim, and that the driver had been driving on the rim for some distance, police said.
Officers found the accident scene by following gouge marks in the roadway. The victim and driver were both transported by ambulance to San Jose Columbia Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.
Huerta was driving with a license that had been suspended after two traffic misdemeanors in November 1999.
He had been arrested for exhibition of speed and placed on a one-year court probation. Just after that, he was arrested for speeding.
Police are checking Huerta's blood to determine alcohol content, but results aren't expected for several months.
Bernardasci had been a driver for Yellow Cab since 1994, said operations manager Dave Logan. Bernardasci lived in San Jose but grew up in Salinas, where his funeral was held Oct. 5. He is survived by his wife, Linda, his 11-year-old daughter, Tiffany, and two brothers and a sister.
"Always wear a seat belt," said San Jose police Lt. Richard Calderon. "Drive safely." Anyone driving unsafely is "endangering themselves and others. It is a wanton disregard for the lives of others," he said.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to Bernardaschi's family can send it attention: Bill Bernardaschi Donation, Yellow Cab, 615 Bird Ave., San Jose, Calif. 95125.
In the other cab driver's death, police arrested Sa-hr Otis Franco, 24, of San Jose on Oct. 5, for the murder of Milpitas Cab driver Daljit Singh on Sept. 15.
Logan says Yellow Cab, which posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the killing, will make the award after they get more information from police.
Logan also said Singh's family has received donations totaling nearly $50,000 from cab companies all over the Bay Area.
Anyone with information about either case is encouraged to call police at 408.277.4654. Persons wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 408.947.STOP.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
