Las Vegas Sun

April 23, 2024

Military IDs Nevada soldiers injured in training crash

Military officials today identified three Las Vegas-area Nevada National Guardsmen injured in a fatal rollover crash during a training exercise Wednesday in Louisiana.

One active-duty soldier died and 12 other soldiers were injured in total after military vehicles “failed to navigate a turn on uneven terrain” during overnight training at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La., officials said.

The local injured guardsmen, stationed in Las Vegas with the 72nd Military Police Company, suffered survivable injuries, officials said.

They are: Spc. Patrick Kelly, 27, of Henderson, who suffered broken ribs and a hurt back; Spc. Brennan Garcia, 23, of Las Vegas, who injured his back and had cuts to his face, and Staff Sgt. Damian Jorgensen, 30, of Las Vegas, who was treated at the scene for seemingly minor injuries, officials said.

Kelly and Garcia have since left the hospital, officials said. Officials initially said four Nevada guardsmen had been hurt.

Investigators are looking into whether proper safety procedures and measures were followed,” officials wrote in a news release.

All of the members in Kelly, Garcia and Jorgensen’s unit are slated to return from the annual training when it ends on May 25.