Alejandro Martinez, a 27-year-old recruit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, tragically died on Friday night after being hospitalized for eight months. He was struck by a wrong-way driver while jogging with a group of recruits in South Whittier. Martinez, an Army veteran and Cal State Northridge, was among the 75 recruits out on a training run on the morning of November 16, 2022, when the accident occurred.
The suspect, 22-year-old Nicholas Gutierrez, drove into the group of jogging recruits, injuring 25 individuals, five critically and three severely. Martinez, who sustained broken legs, brain swelling, and internal bleeding, was among those critically injured and had been hospitalized until his untimely death.
Although Gutierrez’s attorney claimed the incident was not intentional and that Gutierrez had fallen asleep while driving to work, the sheriff announced that investigators believe the act was intentional. The attorney also stated that Gutierrez had taken the same route daily and had neither drugs nor alcohol in his system.
Following Martinez’s passing, a procession was carried out late Friday night, with deputies and law enforcement escorting Martinez’s body from the hospital to the L.A. County’s Coroner’s Office in Boyle Heights. This tragic incident underscores the unforeseen dangers that law enforcement officers can face, even during training activities.