Driver Pleads Guilty in Wrong-Way Crash

0:00It's April 21st. You're listening to California News today, AI Power Local News. I'm Corey with the story. A 25-year-old driver from Diamond Bar named Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez just pleaded guilty in a tragic wrong-way crash in Whittier back in 2, 2022. He admitted to one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and nine counts of reckless driving causing injury. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced it on Monday, the crash hit hard during an early morning training run on November 16th, 2022. 76 recruits from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Academy class, 464, were jogging along Mills Avenue near Telegraph Road, when Gutierrez crossed into their lane, going the wrong way. It injured 25 recruits with 10 suffering serious wounds and claimed the life of 27-year-old Alejandro Martinez, in Zunza, 8. Months later in July 2023, families and victims have

1:00been dealing with the fallout ever since, forever changed by that devastating morning. Earlier arrests painted it as possibly intentional, but a deep investigation cleared that of detective say Gutierrez likely fell asleep at the wheel. He got picked up right after the crash, and again in November 2023, but released both times until charges stuck. Now he's looking at five years of probation with a suspended eight-year prison sentence hanging if he slips up. This plea brings some justice and closure to those shattered lives, even if nothing erases the pain.