‘It was no accident’: Family disputes police report about teen killed on minibike

Las Vegas police said Monday that the death of a 16-year-old boy who struck a cable while riding his minibike in northeast Las Vegas appeared to be accidental, but his father and brother strongly disputed that.

“I’m saying it was no accident,” the boy’s father, Rudolfo Naranjo, 42, said late Monday night.

“The cable was not on the ground,” said Arley Naranjo, 19. “I was there physically that night with my brother.”

Angel Naranjo died July 30 while riding his minibike on a bike path along the Las Vegas Wash near Pecos Road and East Lake Mead Boulevard.

“Angel’s minibike went over the cable, and it appears it then snapped up and struck him in the neck,” the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement Monday. “The preliminary investigation points to this being a tragic and unfortunate accident.”

Metro also said the cable had not been strung across the pathway.

“Based on witness interviews and evidence at the scene, a cable was tied to a fence post on the pathway where Angel was riding his minibike,” the statement said. “That cable was slack and resting on the ground. It was not strung taut across the pathway.”

‘No accident’

In a telephone interview Monday night, however, Rudolfo Naranjo said his son Arley and several other witnesses saw that the cable had been tied across the path.

“The cable was strung all the way across,” he said. “I arrived before the cops did. The kids had already taken it down so nobody else would hit it. I’m saying it was no accident.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal had previously reported that the cable was stretched across the path, based on a police report that described the initial incident.

In the report, taken by an officer who responded to the scene at about 12:40 a.m., the officer said a paramedic told him Naranjo was driving his minibike south on the concrete path running parallel to the wash at about 12:30 a.m. “when a cable that was tied to a pole from the fence across the pathway struck the victim on the neck when the victim was riding his minibike (southbound) on the pathway.

“This caused the victim to fall off his minibike,” the report stated.

Remembering Angel

Naranjo’s death sparked an outpouring of grief and support for his family. His school, Equipo Academy, held a fundraiser on Saturday and a car wash on Sunday, both to raise money for the family to help with the costs associated with Naranjo’s death, including his funeral. A minibike-riding friend of Naranjo’s also organized a car wash on Sundayto raise money for the family.

The pathway where Naranjo died, called the Las Vegas Wash Trail, on Monday was neglected and shabby, with old bike parts and other garbage littering the path. Homeless people in tents and under tarps are living in the area just to the east of the path and to the west on the concrete above the wash. A man walking through the area approached a reporter and mumbled something unintelligible about meth. Another woman walking near the tents said she didn’t know anything about the boy’s death.

A section of steel cable from the fence lining the west side of the path was lying slack on the ground.

Rudolfo Naranjo also said he wants the county to clean up the path to make it safe and to ensure that nobody else has to endure what he and his family are going through.

“My baby was a precious soul and I want to protect his memory,” Naranjo said. “Everybody loved my son.”

Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said last week that county officials were waiting to hear more about what happened, and that they were heartbroken for Naranjo’s family. Reached Monday afternoon by phone, and asked if the county had any response to Monday’s police statement, or whether the path should be cleaned up or closed until it’s cleaned up, to ensure its safety, Pappa said to email those questions and that he would try to get answers.

A response to those questions, which were sent to Pappa after 3:30 p.m. and relatively close to the end of the workday, hadn’t yet been received Monday night.

Monday statement

Metro said in the Monday statement that its Homicide Section and Traffic Fatal Detail have been working together to investigate Naranjo’s death and that because of its suspicious nature, homicide detectives were taking the lead in the investigation.

On the day of the accident, Naranjo was riding with his older brother, who was on another minibike. When police and medical personnel got to the scene, the older brother, Arley — whose name was redacted from the police report — said he was riding behind Angel and that Angel fell off his bike. The older brother was “hysterical and could not provide further details,” the police report stated.

Arley Naranjo said Monday night he doesn’t like to talk about what happened.

Another paramedic told police she saw Naranjo “sitting up against the east wall” when she arrived and that the boy “had injuries to his neck from the cable,” the report stated.

“A hanging cable from the fence was observed over the westside of the fence,” the police report stated.

Monday’s statement noted that Metro has been in contact with Naranjo’s family for the past week.

“Homicide detectives will continue to actively investigative the circumstances behind Angel’s death until we are able to come to our final determination in this case,” it read. “LVMPD offers our sincerest sympathies to the Naranjo family.”

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Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.