Driver accused of killing 2 in bus crash says he doesn’t remember the wreck

The 25-year-old man Las Vegas police say was driving drunk before he crashed a BMW into a minibus, killing two, told officers he doesn't remember anything from the wreck, according to an arrest report.

Metro went at 7:05 a.m. Saturday to the site of the collision in the 1100 block of South Main Street, at the intersection of Charleston Boulevard.

A 1998 BMW 540i had sped through a red light and struck the front driver's side of a Grand Canyon tour bus, according to witnesses and evidence at the scene. The bus rolled and both vehicles caught fire, police said.

Three passengers escaped the bus and were taken to University Medical Center with serious injuries.

Bus driver Jose Francisco Cosenza, 53, and a fourth passenger from Germany died at the scene, police said. The Clark County coroner's office has not identified the fourth passenger.

Police said Jonathan Donner was westbound in the BMW on Charleston when he struck the tour bus then the front of a 2010 Ford F-150 that was stopped. The driver of the Ford, a 32-year-old man, was not hurt.

An off-duty UNLV police officer pulled Donner to safety. He was taken to UMC with moderate injuries.

"I had one beer before driving," Donner told Las Vegas police in his arrest report.

Donner's girlfriend told police her boyfriend was drunk when he went to her apartment, less than two miles from the crash, that same morning. She took Donner's keys, but the two fought and he took them back.

She called police at 6:55 a.m. to report that Donner had left her apartment, headed west on Charleston, the arrest report said.

Donner was confrontational when Metro officers met him at UMC, saying he doesn't talk to police. He told an officer to "f--- off" when police asked if he would volunteer his blood to be tested for alcohol.

Officers obtained a search warrant to test Donner's blood, and samples were drawn about 9:30 a.m., about two and a half hours after the crash. Test results weren't immediately available.

Donner, who police initially said was 24, is being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center on two charges of DUI resulting in death and three charges of DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm.

Reporter Cassandra Taloma contributed. Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter: @lauxkimber