A Sacramento County jury has hit the City of Sacramento with a 32.1 million dollar verdict over a deadly December 2022 crash on southbound Interstate 5 near Sutterville Road that killed two brothers. The award goes to the children of 33-year-old Juan Carlos Rodriguez after a multi-year criminal and civil investigation into the collision. City officials have accepted liability in the civil case, and the judgment has been filed in Sacramento Superior Court.
According to court records and the judgment submitted by Judge Julie Weng-Gutierrez, jurors awarded 15 million dollars to each child for the loss of parental companionship, plus 2.1 million dollars in economic damages, for a total of 32.1 million dollars. The decision was returned by a Sacramento County jury and then formally entered by the judge for collection. "The city remains deeply saddened by the loss of a father and the impact on his two children," city spokesperson Gabby Miller said in a written statement, according to Abridged and PBS KVIE.
What Happened on I-5
The crash unfolded in the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 6, 2022, when Juan Carlos Rodriguez, 33, and his brother Lionel, 32, were outside a disabled pickup on the right shoulder of southbound I-5 near Sutterville Road. According to the California Highway Patrol and contemporaneous reporting, a Sacramento Police Department detective driving an unmarked vehicle crossed the solid white line and slammed into the men as they worked on the truck. One brother died at the scene, and the other was pronounced dead at a hospital, as reported by KCRA.
Criminal Case and Civil Liability
The detective, identified as Jonathan Nangle, was later charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter and was convicted on both counts, according to reporting cited in court filings. Nangle was sentenced to 120 days in the Sacramento County Jail, the documents and news accounts state. In the civil suit, the city acknowledged responsibility for the deadly crash, and the judgment makes the City of Sacramento, not the individual officer, financially liable for the payout, according to court filings and coverage by Abridged and PBS KVIE.
What This Means for the City
The 32.1 million dollar verdict ranks as one of the largest civil awards tied to actions by the Sacramento Police Department in recent memory. It highlights just how expensive deadly encounters involving officers can become for a city that is already no stranger to high-profile payouts. Sacramento has previously paid out multiple multi-million dollar settlements in other cases, including post-shooting agreements that drew national scrutiny. The Los Angeles Times has reported on earlier settlements in the Stephon Clark case and related payouts, underscoring the political and fiscal stakes for city leaders and taxpayers.
City officials did not immediately say how they plan to cover the judgment. Municipal governments typically rely on a mix of insurance coverage and budget appropriations to handle large verdicts, and Sacramento could still pursue post-trial motions to try to reduce the award or seek other legal relief. Appeals and post-trial challenges are common after big jury numbers, and attorneys for both sides now have time to file additional motions and requests with the court as the judgment moves through the system.
