Man who drove into L.A. deputy recruits loses license — but avoids prison

A 25-year-old Diamond Bar man pleaded guilty to causing a 2022 wrong-way crash that killed one L.A. County Sheriff’s Department recruit and injured dozens of others while they were on an early morning training run in South Whittier, officials said.

Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez will receive an eight-year suspended sentence and five years of probation after pleading guilty Monday to one count of vehicular manslaughter and nine counts of reckless driving, according to a statement released by the L.A. County district attorney’s office.

The plea bars Gutierrez from driving for five years. If he violates the terms of his probation, he would have to serve his entire prison sentence, prosecutors said.

“Today’s plea and sentence cannot undo the devastation of that day, nor will it bring back the life that was lost,” Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said. “But it does mark a step toward justice and a measure of closure for the victims and their families whose lives have been forever changed.”

Gutierrez fell asleep while driving to work near the department’s STARS Center training academy early in the morning on Nov. 16, 2022, his attorney, Alexandra Kazarian, previously told The Times. His car veered into the wrong lane of traffic as a group of nearly 80 recruits ran along Mills Avenue.

More than two dozen recruits were struck and hurt, with 10 suffering serious injuries, prosecutors said. Alejandro Martinez-Inzunza, 27, died from his injuries months later.

Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva initially claimed his investigators found probable cause that the crash was an intentional attack on law enforcement and described the case as an attempted murder. Kazarian said there was no evidence of that.

“I think his sentence is an insult to the families of those who died or had their lives tragically altered by his criminal actions,” Villanueva said Monday. “I can see the eight-year sentence but why on earth would the sentence be suspended? That’s a slap on the wrist that renders justice meaningless for the victims, survivors and their families.”

Gutierrez’s father is a retired corrections officer and he has relatives who worked in the Los Angeles Police Department, the California Highway Patrol and the Sheriff’s Department, according to Kazarian, who said her client “harbors absolutely no animosity toward law enforcement.”

In an interview with KNBC-TV Channel 4 in 2022, Gutierrez said the crash was an accident and that he wished “it never happened.”

“Our community and our Department will never forget the profound loss of Sheriff’s Recruit Alejandro Martinez-Inzunza, nor the pain endured by the members of Academy Class 464 who were injured that day. What began as a routine training run turned into a tragedy that has left a lasting impact on the Department, the victims, and their families,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. “While today’s plea brings a measure of accountability, it does not erase the grief carried by Alejandro’s loved ones and his fellow recruits.”

A sentencing hearing will take place next month during which the surviving victims and their families can address the court.