Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Metro video campaign seeks to save lives on the road

Metro Police Traffic Bureau

Steve Marcus

Metro Police Lt. Gregory Munson, left, responds to a question during an interview at Metro Police Traffic Bureau Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018. Capt. Nick Farese listens at right.

Vigil for Levi Echenique

A photo of 8-year-old Levi Echenique is displayed during a candlelight vigil at Paradise Park, 4775 McLeod Dr., Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018. Echenique was killed by a suspected impaired driver in a traffic accident on Aug. 31 at at Eastern and Harmon avenues. Launch slideshow »

Metro Police Traffic Bureau

Metro Police Sgt. Robert Stauffer, a traffic fatality investigator, responds to a question during an interview at Metro Police Traffic Bureau Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018. Launch slideshow »

A 30-second Metro Police video shows a car on Las Vegas Boulevard with a dented hood and a caved-in windshield, the grill knocked loose and dangling.

Capt. Nick Farese made the video in the immediate aftermath of a pedestrian crash that left two people crossing the street dead. The couple were jaywalking; the driver was suspected of being high on marijuana, police said.

“We’re better than this, Las Vegas,” Farese said in the video. “We need to stop these senseless deaths.”

Farese heads Metro’s traffic unit, which earlier this summer kicked off a social media video campaign imploring people to be more careful on the road. Officers shoot videos, perhaps jarring to some, from the scenes of fatal accidents.

“I don’t know if the message is being heard, and I don’t know how many people are getting their news that way on a frequent basis,” Farese said. “How do we reach the community?”

This year, 95 motorists and pedestrians have been killed on Metro-patrolled roadways. And about a third of the fatal wrecks Metro investigates involve people suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In another video, Lt. Greg Munson stood at Sahara Avenue and Tenaya Way last month after an SUV hit a pedestrian on a sidewalk, went airborne and landed on top of another vehicle in a parking lot. “Slow down so that we can save lives instead of taking them,” he implored.

Patrol officers gauge the seriousness of every crash. If there’s a death or one appears imminent, a fatal-unit team is dispatched. In a way that doesn’t compromise the investigation or show sensitive images, a short video is filmed as soon as possible.

“If we can save one life, that’s one life that we didn’t lose today,” Munson said, noting that “it could happen to one of my family members. It can happen to me, too.”

Metro Sgt. Paul McCullough knows that all too well. He lost a family member in a crash some 14 years ago. “I take these very personal,” he said.

In another video, Farese stood at the scene of a crash Aug. 31 where an 8-year-old boy was killed when, according to police, his family’s car was hit broadside by a vehicle that had accelerated to 103 mph before blowing through a red light at Eastern and Harmon avenues.

The boy, Levi Echenique, was on his way to school.

“To be honest, Las Vegas, this one really makes my stomach sick,” Farese said. “Because of somebody’s irresponsible driving, speeding and running red lights and T-boning another vehicle, a family has to bury a child.”

“At what point is the community going to get behind this and develop a hatred for the way that we drive as a community?” he said.

The aroma on Sept. 9 at Paradise Park was that of a warm summer night. A whiff of humid grass floated over a couple hundred candle-holding mourners there to honor Levi Echenique, the caring boy who liked baseball and the Bible. 

Just before the crash, his family said, Levi had asked his father how one gets to heaven.

Cameron Miller, a minister who led a sermon in front of a dark-brown wooden cross, called Levi “a lighthouse of hope.”


Briejet Echenique, Levi’s mother, remained hospitalized, while his father, Jose, who suffered various injuries and required a special medical chair, was there, listening.

Afterward, dozens formed a line to hug the sorrowful man and provide words of encouragement.

During a moment of silence, only interrupted by a rumbling generator, Echenique removed his hat and bowed his head.

In the adjacent playground, joyous children around Levi’s age laughed, ran, glided down a slide and floated on a swing.