Sacramento cop arrested, faces charges in 2022 crash that killed two on Interstate 5 shoulder

A Sacramento Police Department detective was arrested Tuesday on a misdemeanor warrant for vehicular manslaughter, the department announced Tuesday, in connection with a deadly, on-duty crash in December that killed two brothers as they stood by their disabled truck on Interstate 5.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for Jonathon Thomas Nangle on two misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter, police officials said in a social media post Tuesday night. Nangle turned himself in at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, and was processed and released the same day, according to the post.

Court records show Nangle is scheduled to appear for his arraignment on Nov. 27. The arrest warrant filing indicates that Nangle may be released from jail on his own recognizance after signing a form promising to appear in court to face his charges.

The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint against Nangle on Tuesday. Prosecutors in the complaint allege Nangle failed to maintain the lane of the road while driving the car, killing the two brothers. Nangle faces misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges without gross negligence.

Nangle was allegedly behind the wheel of his “unmarked home retention vehicle” on Dec. 5 and heading southbound on I-5 near Sutterville Road around 6 a.m. when his vehicle struck a white Dodge pickup truck stopped on the right shoulder just south of the ramp to the highway, as well as two pedestrians standing by the driver’s side of the truck, according to the post and a news release by the California Highway Patrol at the time.

The pedestrians were identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office as brothers Lionel Enriquez Rodriguez, 32, of Simi Valley; and Juan Carlos Enriquez Rodriguez, 33, of Sacramento.

Two days after the crash, the department identified the involved driver as Nangle, who was driving a department-issued Ford Fusion sedan, which was unmarked.

Nangle is an eight-year veteran of the department and “remains on administrative leave with his peace officer powers suspended,” according to the statement by police.

At the time of the crash, the CHP said the Ford struck the left rear end of the Dodge, then hit the Rodriguez brothers standing on the driver’s side of the pickup.

The Dodge had pulled over onto the right shoulder of the freeway before the fatal crash. A Toyota sport utility vehicle had parked nearby on the left shoulder of the Sutterville Road ramp to I-5. The CHP has said the Toyota driver was standing near the Dodge driver when both were struck by the police vehicle.

The CHP has said the detective’s vehicle hit the Dodge and the two pedestrians “for an unknown reason.”

One of the men was pronounced dead at the scene by the Sacramento Fire Department, and the second died en route to a hospital. Nangle, a resident of Rocklin, was not injured in the crash, police said.

The CHP said the crash remains under investigation but did not release any new information about the crash or its cause. The Police Department said it is “cooperating fully” with the CHP.

Nangle was also involved in an on-duty crash in 2021, The Sacramento Bee reported in December, which resulted in a civil lawsuit that the city settled for $15,000.

The two Rodriguez brothers’ mother, Virginia Carranza, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in June against the city in Sacramento Superior Court. A city spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit at the time, citing the then-ongoing CHP investigation of the crash.

“Virginia Carranza lost her only two boys overnight,” her attorneys wrote in the civil lawsuit. “Losing a child is one of life’s worst pains. To lose two at the same time, so unexpectedly, and so tragically, is to live a nightmare.”

The sons financially supported their mother before their deaths, according to the lawsuit. The brothers had three children, ages 10, 6 and 5, according to a GoFundMe page the family set up after their deaths.

Senior Deputy City Attorney Chance Trimm on June 20 formally filed a “general denial” of the allegations in the mother’s civil lawsuit seeking to deny damages sought by the plaintiff, court documents show. The civil case will return to court March 22 for a case management conference.

“The death of Juan Carlos Enriquez Rodriguez and Lionel Enriquez Rodriguez is a devastating and tragic loss,” Police Chief Kathy Lester said in a prepared statement Tuesday night. “My heart goes out to their family, friends and community.”