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Lionel Enriquez Rodriguez

Age : 32

Gender : Male

Race : Latino/a/e

Date : 12/06/2022

Location : Southbound Interstate 5 near Sutterville Road

City : Sacramento

County : Sacramento

State : California

Agency : Sacramento Police Department

Officer(s) :Detective Jonathon Thomas Nangle

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Stranded motorist killed by police vehicle

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 12/06/2022, Lionel Enriquez Rodriguez, 32, of Simi Valley, was killed when Sacramento Police Department Detective Jonathon Thomas Nangle drove an unmarked department vehicle onto the shoulder of southbound Interstate 5 near Sutterville Road and struck Lionel and his brother, Juan Carlos Enriquez Rodriguez, 33.
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Lionel's Dodge pickup had run out of fuel. He pulled onto the right shoulder and activated the truck's emergency flashers before calling his brother for assistance. Juan Carlos arrived and was helping put fuel into the disabled truck. Both brothers were on the shoulder when Nangle approached at approximately 6:15 a.m.
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Nangle was on duty and traveling southbound in an unmarked, department-issued Ford Fusion. The vehicle was assigned to him as a take-home or “home retention” police vehicle. Evidence presented in the subsequent civil litigation indicated Nangle was traveling approximately 70 mph when his vehicle crossed the solid white fog line separating the travel lane from the shoulder. A tanker truck traveling behind Nangle captured the vehicle's movements on dash-camera video.
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Nangle's Ford struck the left rear of the disabled Dodge pickup and then struck Lionel and Juan Carlos, who were standing alongside it. One brother died at the scene and the other died while being transported to a hospital.
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The California Highway Patrol investigated the collision and determined that the evidence supported vehicular-manslaughter charges. The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office concurred. On 09/05/2023, a judge issued a warrant charging Nangle with two misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter. Nangle surrendered to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office and was processed and released.
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Nangle subsequently pleaded guilty to both counts of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. On 02/03/2025, he was sentenced to 120 days in Sacramento County Jail, with the opportunity to apply for an alternative sentence such as community service. At the time of sentencing, Nangle remained on paid administrative leave from the Sacramento Police Department.
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Lionel was described by his family as a loving father who was frequently laughing and joyful. He left behind a daughter and a partner.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Jonathon Thomas Nangle was a Sacramento Police Department detective and an approximately eight-year department veteran when he was criminally charged for killing Lionel and Juan Carlos Rodriguez. Following the charges, Sacramento police placed him on administrative leave and suspended his peace-officer powers.
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The fatal collision was not Nangle's first documented on-duty crash. A civil complaint arising from an April 8, 2021 collision at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 47th Avenue named Nangle and the City of Sacramento as defendants and alleged injuries, medical expenses and property damage.
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Nangle pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor vehicular-manslaughter counts for the deaths of Lionel and Juan Carlos and was sentenced in 2025 to 120 days, with an alternative-sentencing option.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://apps.sacpd.org/Releases/liveview.aspx?reference=20230905-056
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article269790567.html
https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-interstate-5-crash-police-detective/42172756
https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-police-detective-named-deadly-i-5-crash/42193323
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/two-people-id-killed-by-vehicle-on-i-5-sutterville-road-sacramento-detective/
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article299264474.html