Bail set for trooper in DUI fatal crash case

Staff and wire reports

Thursday, July 17, 2008 | 10:03 a.m.

Bail was set at $50,000 today for a Nevada Highway Patrol sergeant accused of smoking marijuana before crashing his vehicle while off-duty, killing one person and injuring two.

A Las Vegas judge also ordered 46-year-old Edward Lattin to submit to random drug testing and give up driving until the case is resolved.

Lattin appeared this morning by videoconference in shackles from the Clark County jail, where he surrendered to authorities on Tuesday. He faces two to 20 years in prison if convicted of felony driving under the influence resulting in death in the June 11 crash that killed49-year-old Ying Warren of Las Vegas.

His lawyer, John Watkins, declared the a 22-year NHP veteran "innocent at this point in time." Watkins says Lattin has diabetes and might have had a medical episode while driving.Lattin is a supervisor for the NHP fatal accident investigation team.

The wreck occurred when a blue pickup truck failed to slow down in the center two-way turn lane on southbound Rainbow Boulevard, just north of Tropicana Avenue. It struck a 1991 Toyota Cressida driven by 50-year-old Manuel Ramirez of Las Vegas. Warren was a passenger in the Toyota.

As the pickup truck rolled onto the trunk and roof of the Toyota, the car rolled over once and was struck by a northbound Chevrolet S-10 pickup driven by 26-year-old Kevin Merrill of Las Vegas.

Merrill, Ramirez and Warren were taken to University Medical Center, where Warren died a short time later.

Lattin is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation being conducted by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility.