San Jose jogger killed in alleged street race identified

A jogger struck and killed in East San Jose by two vehicles that crashed during an alleged street race was identified Tuesday as 24-year-old Kiran Pabla.

Pabla was jogging near Yerba Buena Road and Edenwood Drive when the crash occurred about noon Monday.

The male drivers of a 2011 Nissan and a 2011 BMW were racing each other west on Yerba Buena at speeds of more than 70 mph down a hill when they lost control and collided, police said.

The cars careened to the side of the road, where the Nissan pinned Pabla against a tree, police said. She died at the scene.

The drivers, 18-year-old Gabriel Becerra Esparza and Manuel Maldonado-Avalos, 24, were arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving causing great bodily injury, authorities said.

At a makeshift memorial of candles at the crash site, Pabla’s older brothers blasted the drivers’ actions for killing their sister, who they described as “our star.”

“She was a really good person. She didn’t deserve this,” Kunal Singh told reporters through tears. “Basically she just went out for a jog, like every other day. Today was just one second too late, too early, they would have missed her.”

He added, “It’s murder. Anybody behind a vehicle, if they’re driving, that’s a weapon.”

Aman Singh said, “For those two guys that did this, I hope you guys go to sleep at night knowing that you guys killed an innocent person. But we’ll still pray for your family as well.”