Department mourns deputy killed with daughter by suspected drunk driver

RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Friends, family and colleagues of a Riverside County
sheriff’s correctional deputy killed with his 19-year-old daughter by a
suspected drunk driver in a wreck north of San Jacinto were in mourning today.

Corporal Daniel Jacks Jr., 45, and his daughter, Hannah Jacks, both of
San Jacinto, were fatally injured at about 9 p.m. Sunday on Gilman Springs
Road, just east of Bridge Street.

Scott Bales, 47, of Moreno Valley was arrested on suspicion of DUI
murder and other charges for allegedly causing the deadly head-on collision.
Bales remains hospitalized in serious condition at Riverside University Medical
Center in Moreno Valley.

In a statement released Monday night, the sheriff’s department
expressed its collective sadness over the deaths, noting that Jacks had been a
deputy for 14 years.

“Corporal Jacks began his service with the department on Sept. 2,
2008,” the agency said. “After graduating the (sheriff’s) academy, he was
assigned to the Indio Jail. In May 2014, he was transferred to the Palm Desert
Station, and the following year transferred back to the Indio Jail.”

During his tenure there, the facility was renamed the John J. Benoit
Detention Center. In March, Jacks attained the rank of corporal.

He is survived by his wife, Denay, and son, Brent, as well as brothers
Anthony and Tommy Jacks, and father Daniel Jacks Sr., officials said.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

CHP Officer Jason Montez said Bales was at the wheel of a Chevrolet
Silverado with a front-seat passenger going westbound on Gilman Springs when
Jacks’ Honda Insight approached from the opposite direction on the two-lane
corridor, where there is no barrier forming a center median, only double yellow
lines.

Montez alleged that Bales’ pickup “crossed over the divided highway
and traveled into the eastbound traffic lane.”

The Chevy slammed head-on into the Honda, after which both vehicles
came to a stop in lanes, according to the CHP spokesman. County fire paramedics
arrived a short time later and pronounced Jacks and his daughter dead at the
scene.

Bales and his passenger, identified by the CHP only as a 45-year-old
Moreno Valley man, were taken to the county medical center for treatment of
major injuries.

“Bales was determined to be under the influence of an alcoholic
beverage at the time of the crash,” Montez said.

Background information on the suspect was unavailable.
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