Sheriff’s deputy, daughter killed in crash with repeat DUI offender, CA officials say
A sheriff’s deputy and his daughter were killed in a crash with a repeat DUI offender, California officials said.
Daniel Jacks Jr., 45, a correctional corporal for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, was driving with his daughter, Hannah Jacks, on Gilman Springs Road in an unincorporated area of Riverside County the evening of Sunday, Nov. 13, the California Highway Patrol said in a Nov. 14 news release.
Another driver Scott Bales, 47, crossed the highway and “traveled into the eastbound traffic lane,” causing a head-on collision, according to highway patrol.
Jacks Jr. and Hannah Jacks died at the scene, the release said.
Bales and his passenger were taken to a hospital for major injuries, according to CHP.
CHP said they determined Bales was “under the influence of an alcoholic beverage at the time of the crash.”
Bales was arrested and is facing multiple charges, including “two counts of homicide, as well as driving under the influence and causing injury to his passenger,” according to CHP. He is being held at Robert Presley Detention Center without bail, according to online jail records. An attorney for Bales was not listed.
Bales has three misdemeanor DUI convictions in Riverside County spanning from 2006 to 2011, according to an email to McClatchy News on Tuesday, Nov. 15, from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. He also has a felony DUI conviction in Orange County.
Dad, daughter remembered
Jacks Jr. most recently worked at John Benoit Detention Center in Indio, according to a statement from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. He began working with the department in 2008.
He went on to work at the department’s Palm Desert Station before returning to John Benoit Detention Center, the sheriff’s department said. In March, he was “promoted to his current rank of Correctional Corporal.”
Hannah Jacks was an instructor at The Dancers’ Studio in Hemet, according to the studio’s website.
She was remembered as “the sweetest, kindest, most loving soul you would have ever met,” a friend wrote on Facebook.
“She was perfect in everything and I mean EVERYTHING she did. Her singing, her dancing, her personality,” the friend wrote. “My heart aches knowing I was going to see her in a few short weeks to see her dancing in the Disneyland Christmas parade.”
Jacks Jr. is survived by his “wife Denay, son Brent, father Daniel Sr., and brothers Anthony and Tommy,” the sheriff’s department said.
Riverside County is about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
This story was originally published November 15, 2022 at 12:42 PM with the headline "Sheriff’s deputy, daughter killed in crash with repeat DUI offender, CA officials say."
