Driver arrested in connection with crash that injured 25 L.A. County sheriff’s trainees
A Southern California motorist was arrested and booked on suspicion of attempted murder after a wrong-way crash that injured two dozen Los Angeles County sheriff’s trainees, officials said Thursday.
Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez, 22 of Diamond Bar, was charged with attempted murder of a peace officer, and additional criminal counts are pending, the sheriff’s department said in a statement.
He was being held without bail. Thursday’s statement did not reveal what, if any, motivation might have been behind the alleged crime.
It was not immediately clear Thursday whether Gutierrez had hired or been assigned an attorney.
Relatives of the suspect could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday through public phone listings.
A car in the southbound lanes veered into 75 sheriff’s trainees a little before 6:30 a.m. PT Wednesday as they were running in formation north on Mills Avenue near Whittier, authorities said.
Twenty-five recruits were injured — 16 with minor wounds, four who were listed as stable in moderate condition and five who were in critical condition, one of them breathing with a ventilator, officials said Thursday.
The academy includes recruits from other Southern California police agencies. Two each of the injured were from the Bell and Glendale police departments, one came from the Pasadena force, and the remaining 20 were Los Angeles County sheriff’s recruits, officials said.
