LOS ANGELES — The arrest of a man suspected of driving a vehicle into a large group of recruits with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department — injuring 25 of them, five critically — has taken a confusing turn.
Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of attempted murder of peace officers. On Thursday afternoon, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva called the collision a “deliberate act” and suggested Gutierrez had intentionally rammed into the recruits as they were on a morning training run.
But just hours later, Gutierrez was released under a California state law that authorizes law enforcement to release arrestees from custody without first being arraigned if there are insufficient grounds to make a criminal complaint.
