San Jose mayor, police chief slam decision to release fatal DUI crash suspect
(KRON) -- San Jose’s mayor and police chief are slamming the decision to release a man who is suspected of killing a community service officer in a drunk driving crash that happened in August. Community Service Officer Long Pham, 34, was conducting a traffic stop in San Jose on the night of Aug. 3 when [...]
(KRON) -- San Jose’s mayor and police chief are slamming the decision to release a man who is suspected of killing a community service officer in a drunk driving crash that happened in August.
Community Service Officer Long Pham, 34, was conducting a traffic stop in San Jose on the night of Aug. 3 when a vehicle struck both him and his colleague, Veronica Baer. Pham suffered fatal injuries from the crash, while Baer was hospitalized with major injuries and survived. The driver of the vehicle was identified as 44-year-old Juan Huerta-Palacios and is believed to have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the fatal wreck, according to the San Jose Police Department.
SJPD Chief Paul Joseph said Huerta-Palacios had prior arrests for DUI in California.
Huerta-Palacios is facing a murder charge in the death of Pham based on his previous conviction for alcohol-related reckless driving, according to Chief Joseph. He was also charged with two felony counts of driving under the influence.
In a statement released Wednesday, Joseph said he stands with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office in objecting to Huerta-Palacios’s release on bail. “An officer is dead and the man who killed him was let out on bail to go home against our objection, against our community’s objection,” Joseph wrote.
“Previous warnings to this defendant about the dangers of drunken driving did not prevent him from killing Long Pham,” Joseph's statement read. “Why should we think that these restrictions adequately protect the public from his bad judgement again?”
A statement from San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan reflected the police chief’s sentiments in the release of Huerta-Palacios, saying he strongly disagrees with the decision. “Both CSO Pham’s family and our entire community deserve better -- they deserve justice,” Mayor Mahan wrote.
Mahan’s statement continued, “This wasn’t the first time this individual put members of our community in danger -- and this time an innocent man lost his life. How do we know he won’t do it again? It is irresponsible to release him before he faces a judge and jury.”
KRON4 has reached out to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office for more information on Huerta-Palacios’s release.
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