3rd victim ID’d in Las Vegas crash that killed 2 women, boy

The Clark County coroner’s office has identified the final victim killed in an Aug. 13 fiery crash that left two women and an 8-year-old boy dead.

The crash happened about 11:15 a.m. on the ramp connecting northbound Interstate 15 to northbound U.S. Highway 95, the Nevada Highway Patrol has said. The coroner’s office on Wednesday identified one of the three people killed as 29-year-old Almetrine De Angela Rushing of Las Vegas.

The coroner’s office had previously identified the other two victims, also from Las Vegas, as 8-year-old Jh’sani Rushing-Fincher and 28-year-old Artajha Smith. The coroner’s office had not released the cause and manner of death for all three as of Wednesday afternoon.

Jh’sani and the two women were in a 2001 Volvo sedan driving north on I-15 when the car cut across to the ramp and hit a trailer transporting an off-road vehicle, which was being towed by a pickup, the Highway Patrol has said.

The truck and the car went over the wall to the right side of the ramp connecting the two highways. The Volvo was pinned under the truck after both came to rest on an electrical pole and caught fire.

Two people who were in the truck, the driver and his 4-year-old daughter, escaped unharmed, the Highway Patrol said.

The agency has said the Volvo’s driver was speeding and driving recklessly. A dog was also killed in the crash.

The off-road vehicle that was being towed is registered to Brenthel Industries as a trophy truck. The organization’s drivers were scheduled to compete in the Best of the Desert race series, which had a 550-mile race from Las Vegas to Reno scheduled for the weekend following the crash.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.