A metro officer walks past the scene of a fatal car accident on Durango and Desert Inn, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019.
Published Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019 | 7:12 p.m.
Updated Friday, Dec. 27, 2019 | 9:55 a.m.
A reckless driver speeding down Desert Inn Road in wet conditions Thursday lost control and caused a fiery crash that killed four people, including a young child, according to Metro Police.
Police credited good Samaritans for saving a teen boy and girl by pulling them from a burning vehicle. The teens were transported to University Medical Center with substantial injuries, Capt. Jason Letkiewicz said. Their condition was later described as critical.
“Thanks to the heroic acts of some citizens that saw that accident, there are two people still alive,” Letkiewicz said.
The at-fault driver died, as did two women and a young girl in an SUV he rammed from behind at a red light about 5:30 p.m. at the Durango Drive intersection, police said.
The impact caused both vehicles to burst into flames, Letkiewicz said.
A third vehicle also caught fire, but the driver escaped injury, Letkiewicz said. Seven vehicles were involved, but no other injuries were reported, he said.
The at-fault driver, who was in a 2016 Mazda 6, was a 39-year-old Las Vegas man, police said. His name was not immediately released.
The deceased will be identified by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
Police said Friday morning that the Mazda 6 was headed east on Desert Inn at “an excessive rate of speed” when it hit a median and rear-ended the Dodge SUV, which was stopped at a red light, waiting to make a left turn onto Durango.
The impact pushed the SUV into the intersection, causing a chain of events in which five other vehicles were clipped or hit, police said. The Mazda, the Dodge and an Audi 3 caught fire, police said.
Letkiewicz urged people to “think before you drive” and “stop doing stupid things.”
“There’s no place that you have to be so badly that you put your own life or somebody else’s at risk,” he said. “As a result, four people are dead today and two others lives are changed...the day after Christmas.”
