Man indicted in wrong-way crash that killed a California law enforcement recruit and injured others, prosecutors say

By Brammhi Balarajan and Cindy Von Quednow, CNN

(CNN) — A man accused of driving an SUV into two dozen law enforcement recruits who were on a 2022 training run in Southern California – leaving one dead and others seriously injured – has been indicted by a grand jury, prosecutors said this week.

Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez is charged in the indictment with a felony count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence; a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter with ordinary negligence; and nine counts of reckless driving on a highway causing a specified injury, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Gutierrez pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday and is scheduled to appear in court February 9 for a pretrial conference, the district attorney’s office said.

About 75 recruits for various California law enforcement departments were on a run near Whittier as part of their training on November 16, 2022, when Gutierrez drove in the wrong direction and hit some of them, authorities said.

One of the injured, Alejandro Martinez-Inzunza, a recruit for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, died at a hospital of his injuries eight months later, authorities said. Nine others were severely injured, the district attorney’s office said.

“More than a year later, we are still grappling with the profound loss of a promising sheriff’s deputy recruit, Alejandro Martinez-Inzunza, and the other recruits who were seriously injured as a result of this tragic incident,” District Attorney George Gascón said Tuesday. “Today’s indictment is a significant step forward in the progress of this case.”

CNN has sought comment from Gutierrez’s attorney and is working to get a copy of the indictment.

At the time of the incident, Gutierrez showed no signs of impairment and blew a zero in the Breathalyzer test, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Alexandra Kazarian, an attorney for Gutierrez, told CNN affiliate KABC in November 2022: “I have no doubt that an in-depth investigation will confirm that Nicholas is a hard-working young man who holds no animosity towards law enforcement, and this was an absolutely tragic accident.”

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