Former Bishop Gorman basketball player and UNLV commit Zaon Collins, 19, appears in court at the Regional Justice Center Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. Collins is facing DUI and reckless driving counts after a crash that killed a motorist Wednesday afternoon in the southwest valley.
Thursday, March 11, 2021 | 4:51 p.m.
Prosecutors today dismissed a grand jury indictment against teenage basketball standout Zaon Collins, but still plan on taking the case to trial with a preliminary hearing scheduled for next week, according to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office.
Collins, the former UNLV recruit, is accused of causing a crash that killed Eric Echevarria, 52, in southwest Las Vegas Dec. 30.
After the crash, Metro Police booked Collins, 19, on one count each of DUI causing death and reckless driving, both felonies.
His arrest report accuses him of driving 88 mph in a 35-mph residential area near Fort Apache Road and Furnace Gulch Avenue just before the crash.
The District Attorney’s Office later said tests revealed Collins was impaired by marijuana.
But a Clark County grand jury today only charged Collins with reckless driving. A criminal complaint accusing Collins of both counts was filed on Jan. 7.
“Prosecutors can take a case to trial by either conducting a Preliminary Hearing or proceeding to the Grand Jury,” District Attorney Steve Wolfson wrote today in a statement. “We intend to proceed to the Preliminary Hearing as scheduled (on March 18).”
It wasn’t clear why prosecutors pulled the grand jury indictment, and Wolfson said his office was not allowed to comment on the proceedings.
Collins’ attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld wrote in a statement: “The District Attorney chose to present its case to a duly convened grand jury and they decided to charge Mr. Collins with only one count of reckless driving. The District Attorney chose to dismiss it.”
Echevarria, a U.S. Army veteran and Clark County School District custodian, was driving into his neighborhood to deliver food for his teenage son about 3:20 p.m. when his car was broadsided by Collins’ Dodge Challenger at more than 60 mph.
He died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, police said.
Collins, who remains out of jail on high-level monitoring, was released by UNLV’s basketball team the day the criminal complaint was filed.
Under his no bail release agreement the day after the crash, the Bishop Gorman student was ordered to stay out of trouble and not consume alcohol or drugs.
