Silicon Valley Man Wanted for Hit-and-Run Arrested at SFO

By Bay City News

A man wanted on a $1 million warrant after fleeing overseas to avoid facing charges in a fatal hit-and-run in 2011 was arrested Wednesday at San Francisco International Airport, a Santa Clara police spokesman said.

Santa Clara police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents captured Ramiro Lozares, 44, at the airport after he returned from two years on the lam in the Philippines, police Lt. Kurt Clarke said.

Lozares, a Sunnyvale resident, was charged with felony hit-and-run in an accident in Santa Clara on Jan. 11, 2011, that claimed the life of John Kearney, 56, also of Sunnyvale, Clarke said.

"We received some information that he was coming in," Clarke said. 

"It was a tip, and as luck would have it, he was at SFO."

The tipster wants to remain anonymous, Clarke said.

At the time of the accident, Lozares was driving on Scott Boulevard near Olcott Street when he collided with a motorcycle driven by Kearney, who later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital, Clarke said.

"After the collision, he fled, we arrested him and he was arraigned in court," Clarke said.

But following his release from jail in 2011, Lozares failed to show up for his next hearing on the felony charge and Santa Clara County  Judge Jerome Nadler issued a bench warrant in the amount of $1 million for his arrest, Clarke said.

Lozares appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose on Wednesday and is "now back in the system," Clarke said.