Driver charged with killing sheriff’s cadet, injuring others in South Whittier
A driver was charged Thursday with killing a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s recruit and injuring other recruits after driving the wrong way and plowing into a group of them in South Whittier last year.
Twenty-five people were injured in the crash. One later died and nine others suffered serious injuries.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and nine counts of reckless driving on a highway causing a specified injury against Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez.
If convicted as charged, the 23-year-old Gutierrez faces a possible maximum sentence of 12 years, the DA’s Office said. He is scheduled for a Nov. 14 arraignment at Bellflower Superior Court.
The collision happened the morning of Nov. 16, 2022. Seventy six members of the Sheriff’s Academy Class 464 were on a training run on Mills Avenue at Bentongrove Drive, which is in the unincorporated county area, when a Honda CRV heading south on Mills Avenue crossed into the northbound lanes and slammed into the group.
Gutierrez, who was driving the SUV, originally was arrested Nov. 16 but released the next day. Authorities identified him as being a resident of Diamond Bar.
Alejandro Martinez, who was allegedly struck directly by the SUV, died on July 28. He was 27. (The DA’s Office identified him as Alejandro Martinez-Inzunza.)
Multiple factors played into the exact cause of the crash, District Attorney George Gascón said.
Gutierrez told investigators he was tired when he plowed his SUV into the cadets, he added.
The charges for Gutierrez stem from his decision to still drive when he could not safely operate his car, Gascon said.
“When you decide to drive when you’re so tired, you can’t pay attention to what you’re doing, you’re putting us all at risk,” Gascón said.
Neither Gasón nor other officials at the Hall of Justice on Thursday would sketch out what led up to the crash and why it ultimately occurred. They would not say why Gutierrez was so tired or how he failed to stop his car as he hit cadet after cadet.
The California Highway Patrol investigated the crash. Sheriff Robert Luna said the CHP’s work spanned nearly a year because of the complexity of the case, which involved multiple interviews with the suspect and witnesses and gathering other evidence.
A deputy district attorney said prosecutors would not discuss all the evidence they had from the investigation with a pending trial against Gutierrez.
Gutierrez was arrested by the CHP on Thursday and booked at the Sheriff’s Inmate Reception Center in Los Angeles, according to the CHP.