The primary suspect in a horrible crash that resulted in over 2 sheriff recruits being hit this past Wednesday morning was officially released from custody this past Thursday night due to the primary complaint not being enough to keep the person detained, as reported by CNN.
22-year-old Nicholas Gutierrez had been kept in custody due to suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer with a bond of almost $2 million for slamming his SUV into a group of over 25 cadets which resulted in over a dozen injured with 5 being rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
Authorities were forced later to provisionally release Gutierrez “until we can have the case iron clad, iron proof, and submitted to the DA for filing consideration,” explained Alex Villanueva, the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, to News Nation.
Villanueva also stated that the police officials went through the process of interviewing all parties involved in the horrific crash and watched through video surveillance as they looked over physical evidence. He stated that investigators possessed enough evidence to decide that the crash was entirely intentional.
“They were able to form the opinion that this was a deliberate act,” stated Villanueva. “That is the conclusion we’ve arrived [at].”
“It’s not like they arrested the wrong suspect,” explained Deputy Deanna Mares to CNN. “They just want to make sure the investigation is going to be complete.”
The incident took place in an area roughly 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles at roughly 6:30 A.M. while the cadets were carrying out a training exercise with a group of roughly 75 from quite a few local police agencies and the Sheriff’s Department itself. The recruits were enrolled in a 22-week program with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s S.T.A.R.S. Explorer Training Academy in South Whittier, California.
The primary reports seemed to state that the driver crossed over to travel the wrong way down the road prior to the crash taking place.
It was reported by the Los Angeles Times that Gutierrez had a stash of Marijuana in the car when the crash took place.
It was officially confirmed by the Sheriff via a press conference that the driver, who ended up with only a few cuts and bruises, had actually passed a field sobriety test.
As explained by Villanueva, a total of seven of his recruits are still in the hospital, with two still marks as critical with a number of leg fractures. He claimed that the largest worry for the police is that one of the injured recruits has been placed on life support and is currently struggling with extreme brain swelling and bleeding.
“They have a long road to recovery happen to them, and we’re just hoping and praying that they can pull through,” he explained to News Nation.
Villanueva stated that a total of five of the recruits are still being watched and that the rest of the 20 have been handed back over to their respective families.
“It was a bedlam, chaos, you know, there were bodies everywhere, bones sticking out and bleeding profusely. It was a pretty traumatic scene,” stated Villanueva. “In fact, the paramedics that were there had never seen something of that scale. It was almost like an airplane accident, but everyone was alive, thankfully.”