ICE: Suspected Drunken Driver in Deadly Knights Landing Crash in US Illegally

Update: Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Paul Prince reports suspect Ismael Huazo-Jardinez is from Mexico and entered the U.S. illegally. He was taken into custody by ICE Fugitive Operations Team members Tuesday. Huazo-Jardinez was apprehended in Arizona eight years ago and voluntarily returned to Mexico, according to Prince. ICE does not know when he illegally returned to the U.S. KNIGHTS LANDING — The man accused of crashing into a family’s trailer in Knights Landing Saturday night and killing three people inside is already out of jail. Ismael Huazo-Jardinez was arrested on suspicion vehicular manslaughter after officers with the California Highway Patrol said he chose to drive drunk in the Knights Landing area right at the Yolo-Sutter county line. He missed a curve on Highway 113 and plowed into a trailer. Jose Pacheco, his wife, Ana, their 10-year-old son, Angel, and their 11-year-old daughter, Mariana, were all asleep in their beds when Huazo-Jardinez came crashing through their trailer. The parents and the little boy died at the scene while the young girl was hospitalized in serious condition. “Most of my family is hurt by the fact that it was a drunk driver,” said Jose’s niece, Jennifer Sicairos. “This could have been avoided had they not been drinking or had they taken a different road or something.” Residents in Knights Landing who live near the crash scene told FOX40  Huazo-Jardinez tried to run away from the wreckage but witnesses tackled him and held him until CHP officers arrived.

The Sutter County Sheriff’s Office confirmed 33-year-old Huazo-Jardinez was released after posting $300,000 bail. The CHP had asked for a $1 million bond for the suspect but a judge denied the request and instead set his bail at $300,000. Shortly after being in court and released on bail for the killing of three members of the Pacheco family, relatives said Huazo-Jardinez was visiting with his lawyer when FOX40 visited his home. “Maybe come back in one hour,” his brother said. FOX40 waited for two hours for Huazo-Jardinez to return home as his family said he would to hear his side of what happened. No one left or came to the house and no one would come to the door. Both parents were farmworkers in the area and worked hard to provide for their family, according to a family member. “(Jose) was really close with all of us,” Sicairos told FOX40. “Knowing that he’s not going to be there now there’s going to be an empty space there. The fact that my cousin has to live now without her mom and her dad and her brother is even worse.” A GoFundMe page has been created to help the Pacheco family.