Driver faces charges in mountain crash

A Christmas holiday excursion to Mount Charleston by four Cimarron-Memorial High School buddies that involved a bottle of vodka, no seat belts and too much speed left one of the four dead and another seriously injured.

On Wednesday it also resulted in a Clark County grand jury indictment of 18-year-old Lucas Jeremy McWaters on drunken driving and involuntary manslaughter charges.

Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker said McWaters is believed to have been adjusting his car stereo while driving too fast on the Mount Charleston road, three miles west of U.S. 95.

The car started to wander off the two-lane road and McWaters apparently overcorrected, sending the vehicle rolling into the desert, ejecting all but 17-year-old Derek Robinder, who was the only passenger wearing a seat belt.

Booker praised Robinder for caring for his injured buddies.

He told how Robinder pried open the trunk and jacked up the car to free Chad Scott, who was pinned underneath and had suffered a broken leg and a broken arm.

Robinder flagged down a passing car for help and tried to keep his friends warm on the winter day until emergency vehicles arrived about a half-hour later.

But Booker said Steven Vanderhook's multiple injuries were too extensive and he eventually died.

McWater's blood-alcohol level was tested at slightly over the legal limit of 0.10 percent, Booker said.

The teenager will be arraigned later this month in District Court on the two counts each of felony DUI and felony reckless driving, one count of involuntary manslaughter and a misdemeanor charge of having an open bottle of vodka in the 1987 Nissan.

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