SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento police detective was arrested on charges of vehicular manslaughter after a deadly crash in 2022.
The crash happened Dec. 6, 2022 in the area of southbound Interstate 5 and Sutterville Road while the detective was on-duty. According to police, the detective was in an unmarked home retention vehicle when he hit two men on the side of the roadway. Both men died.
According to the California Highway Patrol, a Dodge pickup truck became disabled and pulled over onto the right-hand shoulder with another person later arriving and parking their SUV on the left shoulder of the on-ramp. They were both standing on the left side of the pickup truck when the detective rear-ended the truck, which hit both drivers.
They were identified by the coroner's office as 33-year-old Juan Carlos Rodriguez and 32-year-old Lionel Rodriguez.
The detective was identified as Jonathon Nangle, who has spent more than eight years with the department.
CHP said their investigation supported charges of vehicular manslaughter and Sacramento County District Attorney's Office agreed.
Court documents indicate Nangle failed to maintain a lane while driving his vehicle. The documents said he killed the two men "without malice and without gross negligence."
A judge issued a misdemeanor warrant for two counts of vehicular manslaughter for Nangle, and Nangle would later turn himself in to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, where he was processed and released.
“The death of Juan Carlos Enriquez Rodriguez and Lionel Enriquez Rodriguez is a devastating and tragic loss. My heart goes out to their family, friends, and community” said Chief Katherine Lester.
Nangle is on administrative leave with his peace officer powers suspended.
Defense attorney Mark Reichel explained why cases like this would be classified as a misdemeanor rather than a felony.
"Normally when there's a vehicular homicide, which means the death of someone in a vehicle accident, it's just a misdemeanor because you didn't intend it," said Reichel. "Now it leaves misdemeanor when you have a disregard for the rules of the road -- let's say you go 100 miles an hour through a spotlight or something or there's gross negligence where you completely disregard reasonable care of how you should be."
2021 lawsuit against Nangle
Nangle was listed as one of the defendants in a 2021 complaint alleging he was the cause of injury and damage to property in a car crash.
The civil complaint, filed in Sacramento Superior Court by Emily Keophommacha in July 2021, sued the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento Police Department and Nangle. It alleges a car crash occurred at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 47th Avenue, April 8, 2021.
The complaint continues, saying Keophommachak suffered property damage to a motor vehicle, personal injury, hospital/medical expenses and the loss of property.
The complaint also states Nangle was in a Sacramento owned vehicle at the time of the crash, but does not state if Nangle was on or off duty at that time.
The complaint was dismissed in September this year, never going to court after a settlement meeting was held.
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