A suspect has been arrested for attempted murder after allegedly ploughing his vehicle into 25 law enforcement recruits as they were out for an early morning run in California.
Los Angeles County authorities have identified the suspect as 22-year-old Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez, of Diamond Bar.
Mr Gutierrez, whose family has described him as a “good kid” who comes from a law enforcement family, is accused of crashing into the group of recruits with his Honda CR-V in Whittier on Wednesday.
Officials say that he passed a field sobriety test, but it has since emerged that he may have been under the influence of a recreational drug during the incident, Fox11 reported.
The recruits attend the Sheriff’s Training Academy and Regional Services Center located roughly a mile and a half from the crash site. As many as 25 of the group of 75 were taken to local hospitals.
Five were listed in critical condition with head trauma, a possible amputation, and lacerations, according to reports.
Mr Gutierrez was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. His bail has been set at $2m and he is expected to appear in court on Friday.
The recruits and their drill instructors were running in four lines and were accompanied by two black-and-white patrol cars when the crash took place at around 6.30am.
LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has said that all of the injured were part of Academy Class 464, which consists of 75 recruits from LASD, Bell PD, Glendale PD, Pasadena PD, and the UCLA Police Department.
Of the 25 injured, 20 were from LASD, two from Bell PD, two from Glendale PD and one with Pasadena PD.
Sheriff Villanueva said at a news conference on Wednesday that witnesses had described the scene of the incident as resembling an “airplane wreck.”
“There was so many bodies scattered everywhere in different states of injury that it was pretty traumatic for all individuals involved,” he said as he described some of the injuries as “life-altering.”
The sheriff’s department said its investigators will present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Friday.
