Wrong-way driver who killed Las Vegas officer in crash was nearly 3x legal limit

The wrong-way driver who killed a Las Vegas police officer in a December highway crash near Moapa had gone “drinking in the desert” with a friend and had nearly three times the legal blood alcohol level, according to a newly released report from state police.

Fernando Jimenez-Jimenez, 31, was driving a Ford F-150 north on Interstate 15 at about 100 mph in the early morning of Dec. 12 when he collided head-on with a Toyota Corolla driven by off-duty Metropolitan Police Department officer Colton Pulsipher, the report said.

Pulsipher, 29, died at the scene, leaving behind his wife, Ashlee, and their three young children, Carlee, Brett and Jonny.

A doctor also pronounced Jimenez-Jimenez dead at the scene shortly after the crash. Two other vehicles were involved in the wreck, including a Freightliner that narrowly avoided impact and a Honda CR-V that hit Jimenez-Jimenez’s vehicle after the initial crash.

The Freightliner truck driver remained on the scene and did not report any injuries. In a written statement, he told police everything “happened very quickly.”

The Honda driver was flown to a hospital in Las Vegas to receive treatment for a leg injury.

The final investigative report, made available by the Nevada Highway Patrol this month, said that Jimenez-Jimenez was unlicensed and his vehicle was uninsured. The Las Vegas Review-Journal previously reported that he was a Mexican citizen whom an immigration judge ordered removed from the United States in 2021.

According to the report, Jimenez-Jimenez’s friend, Miguel Jimenez-Cruz, was in the front passenger seat of the F-150 during the crash. He had either climbed out of or was ejected from the flipped truck, fleeing into the nearby desert area and falling asleep. Police found him 9½ hours later.

While being interviewed about the pile-up, Jimenez-Cruz, who did not speak English, told police that he and Jimenez-Jimenez worked in landscaping together. He said that they were “already intoxicated” and planned to have drinks in the desert when Jimenez-Jimenez picked him up from his house before the crash.

Investigators also found a broken bottle of Bacardi rum, a beer can, as well as receipts and packages from a marijuana dispensary inside and near Jimenez-Jimenez’s truck after the crash. His toxicology report determined that his blood alcohol concentration was 0.205, and he tested positive for THC, the chemical that causes marijuana impairment and gives users a high.