Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez, suspect accused of mowing down 25 LA sheriff’s recruits on morning run, released from jail

The 22-year-old man accused of mowing down 25 Los Angeles sheriff’s recruits with his SUV was “provisionally” freed on $2 million bond Thursday night because investigators need more time to comb through the mountain of evidence against him.

Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez had to be released because California law bars authorities from holding a suspect in custody for more than 48 hours without presenting the case to prosecutors, a spokesperson for the LA County Sheriff’s Department said.

Gutierrez will be rearrested once the probe of Wednesday’s horrific incident is complete, Sgt. Gerardo Magos told the Los Angeles Times.

“The evidence is there,” he said. “We just want to make sure it’s properly presented.”

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Officials released this statement to The Post Friday morning: “We have been in contact with LASD and CHP since the incident occurred. They advised our office late yesterday that they would not be presenting a case at this time and that they would be releasing the suspect. We cannot comment on the evidence in this case as this is an ongoing investigation.” 

Authorities allegedly found weed in Gutierrez’ Honda CRV and are trying to determine if he was high at the time, the LA Times reported, citing a source familiar with the investigation.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva has said that a Breathalyzer test was administered at the scene and that Gutierrez passed it when he “blew a 0.0.”

Gutierrez allegedly left bodies “scattered everywhere in different states of injury” after veering across a road near the sheriff’s STARS Center Academy in South Whittier where 75 recruits were on a training run with drill instructors, according to Villanueva.

Five were critically injured and more than a dozen suffered minor to moderate injuries.

As of Thursday night, seven remained hospitalized, with two still in critical condition, according to the LA Times.

Gutierrez allegedly still had his foot on the accelerator after plowing through the four-column formation of recruits and crashing into a light pole.

Witnesses have estimated he was going between 30 and 40 mph and some of the victims said he may have sped up right before the incident.

During a Thursday appearance on the NewsNation cable channel, Villanueva said investigators “have developed probable cause to believe it was intentional.”

“They went through an exhaustive interview process with everyone involved, with the video surveillance, the statements from the recruits, the physical evidence they have and what they got from the suspect himself, and they were able to form the opinion this was a deliberate act,” he said.

Villanueva, who was interviewed before Gutierrez was spung, said he would b e “provisionally” released “until we can have the case ironclad, iron proof, and submitted to the [district attorney] for filing consideration.”

“Right now, we want to tie up all the loose ends on the case and then present it to the DA,” he said.

Gutierrez declined to answer when he was confronted by a reporter who asked, “Why did you run into the recruits?” as he returned to his home in Diamond Bar, TV station KTLA 5 reported.

But defense lawyer Alexandra Kazarian told KABC on Thursday night that she had “no doubt that an in-depth investigation will confirm that Nicholas is a hard-working young man who holds no animosity towards law enforcement, and this was an absolutely tragic accident.”