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San Jose community service officer killed in the line of duty
The San Jose Police Department is in mourning after a community service officer was killed and another severely injured after a suspected DUI driver crashed into them while they were on traffic control.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose leaders blasted a judge's decision to release on bail a suspected drunk driver accused of killing a community service officer and injuring another.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan called the release of 44-year-old Juan Huerta-Palacios on Thursday "irresponsible" before he is tried in the death of Community Service Officer Long Pham.
"Both CSO Pham's family and our entire community deserve better — they deserve justice. 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?" said Mahan.
San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph echoed Mahan's sentiment, saying Huerta-Palacios already had a previous conviction for alcohol-related reckless driving and should not be granted bail.
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"Previous warnings to this defendant about the dangers of drunken driving did not prevent him from killing CSO Long Pham. Why should we think that these restrictions adequately protect the public from his bad judgment again," Joseph said. He added that the department objected to Huerta-Palacios' release in "the strongest possible terms. An officer is dead and the man who killed him was let out on bail to go home."
The defendant was granted bail, though he still faces charges of murder and DUI for the Aug. 3 incident that left Pham dead and his partner, Veronica Baer, seriously injured while they were working traffic control at the scene of an unrelated crash in the area of Monterey Road in South San Jose.
Huerta-Palacios' Dodge Charger crashed through flares and cones, colliding with a marked CSO vehicle, which then struck Pham and Baer.
Huerta-Palacios had two prior DUI arrests in 2001 and 2014, according to the Mercury News.