Sacramento ordered to pay $32.1M to family of men killed by detective in I-5 crash
The city of Sacramento has been ordered to pay $32.1 million to the children of a Sacramento man who was struck and killed by a Sacramento police detective on Interstate 5 near Sutterville Road in 2022, jurors decided this week.
Sacramento police detective Jonathon Thomas Nangle, then an eight-year Sacramento Police Department veteran, was driving his unmarked take-home vehicle about 6 a.m. Dec. 6, 2022, when he collided with a stalled Dodge truck and then struck the two brothers standing next to the truck, according to California Highway Patrol officials at the time.
Lionel Enriquez Rodriguez was 32. Juan Carlos Rodriguez was 33. Juan Carlos Rodriguez’s son and daughter were awarded the multi-million dollar judgment, according to court documents. News of the judgment was first reported by Abridged, the news site of KVIE PBS.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, the family of the two men, originally sought $64 million in the wrongful death lawsuit, according to Sacramento city officials. Jurors awarded roughly half that amount.
Jurors were asked to determine the two surviving children’s non-economic damages — their past and future loss of love, comfort, care and guidance their father supplied.
Each child was awarded $2.5 million for past loss and $12.5 million each for future losses. A special verdict returned Tuesday before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Julie Weng-Gutierrez awarded the children an additional $2.16 million, bringing the total to $32.1 million.
Sacramento city officials on Friday expressed sorrow for the men’s deaths in a written statement.
“This case involves a profound tragedy, and the city remains deeply saddened by the loss of a father and the impact on his two children,” said Gabby Miller, a Sacramento city spokesperson.
The city accepted responsibility and admitted liability, Miller said, leaving Sacramento County jurors to decide an award. “We respect the judicial process and the service of the jury,” Miller said.
Nangle was arrested in September 2023 on two misdemeanor charges of vehicular manslaughter in the fatal collision after surrendering to deputies at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, according to previous Bee reporting.
Sacramento County prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint that Nangle failed to maintain his lane while driving, killing the Rodriguez brothers, and filed charges of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.
Nangle was sentenced in February 2025 to 120 days in Sacramento County Jail and was given the option to serve the time through community service, according to Bee reporting.
Rodriguez family members reacted with outrage. Their mother called the sentence “an injustice.” A surviving child at sentencing tearfully said her father and uncle’s deaths “destroyed” her family.
Nangle apologized to the survivors at his sentencing, saying the collision “rocked me to my core,” and that he lived “with the trauma, regret and remorse” of that December day.
The 2022 crash was not Nangle’s first, The Bee reported.
A civil lawsuit showed Nangle was involved in an on-duty collision in April 2021 at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 47th Avenue. The crash injured motorist Emily Keophommachak, whose complaint alleged loss of use of property, medical expenses, general damages and property damage.
The city paid her $15,000, officials told The Bee.
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 3:27 PM.
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