(L.A.) Alejandro Martinez Inzunza, 27, Died Eight Months After Crash

Case Number: 2023-09671

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 27-year-old Latino male that occurred in a hospital/polyclinic.

The coroner’s office has identified the man as Alejandro Martinez Inzunza. Born in L.A. County.

Manner of Death: Accident

Cause of Death: Sequelae of Traumatic Injuries

RIP ALEJANDRO MARTINEZ INZUNZA (November 2, 1995 – July 28, 2023)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Friday at 7:23 p.m.

The decedent was a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department recruit who was hit by a wrong-way vehicle while training with dozens of colleagues on November 16 last year. He passed away after an eight-month battle with the injuries he suffered.

“On November 16, 2022, Alejandro was struck by a vehicle as he trained with his partners from Academy Class #464 and fought for his life for the past eight months. Today, Alejandro succumbed to his injuries,” the LASD said in a statement issued late Friday.

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/alejandro-martinez-lasd-inured-recruit

Martinez was injured when an SUV swerved into a group of about 75 law enforcement trainees who were on an organized run at around 6:30 a.m. in the 10600 block of Mills Avenue, near Telegraph Road, just blocks from the sheriff’s STARS Explorer Academy law enforcement training center in Whittier.

Sheriff’s officials said the group of recruits was running in columns northbound on the roadway when the southbound SUV swerved to the opposite side of the road and plowed into the trainees, leaving a trail of injured bodies.

The crash injured 25 recruits, including Martinez.

The motorist who struck the cadets, Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez, 22, of Diamond Bar, told reporters in 2022 that he fell asleep at the wheel.

Gutierrez was arrested hours after the crash and booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer, but Gutierrez was released a day later with sheriff’s officials saying the complex case needed more extensive investigation.