Man accused in fatal bus stop crash had just smoked pot, police say

The man arrested in connection with a fatal crash March 30 at a Las Vegas bus stop told police he had smoked marijuana about an hour before the crash, according to an arrest report.

Leonardo Ruesga, 20, and a 15-year-old female passenger, who was not identified in the report, were found hiding in the bedroom closet of a second story apartment at 713 E. Sahara Ave., about a half-mile away from the bus stop where the crash happened.

A car cut in front of him and he didn’t have control of his vehicle when the wreck happened, Ruesga said in the police report.

Witnesses told police they saw a gray car drive onto the sidewalk at the southeast corner of Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway and hit three people waiting at the bus stop.

Maria Garcia, 58, and her granddaughter Alyssa Aisa, 6, were killed. Leah Villa, 18 months old, was hurt, but has since been released from the hospital, police said.

One witness saw the crash, honked his horn and chased the silver 2005 Volvo S60 to a nearby parking lot, where he saw two people get out of the car and run into an apartment complex, the report said.

A resident of The Palms apartments told police she saw the pair run through the grounds and jump over a fence. Officers entered one of the apartments with the permission of a resident and found Ruesga and the female passenger hiding in a closet, Ruesga’s arrest report said.

The teenager told police she had had a bloody nose and was “looking down” when the crash happened, the report said. She asked officers repeatedly if anyone was hurt in the wreck.

Ruesga initially told police he knew nothing about the crash, the report said.

Officer Kelly Cannon told Ruesga two small children and an elderly woman were hit in the crash and that one of the children was likely going to die. The officer asked again if Ruesga had any information, according to the report.

Ruesga then said he was driving his friend’s car to Smith’s grocery store at Sahara and Maryland when a black Honda cut him off and “brake checked” him. He slammed on the brakes but couldn’t stop and had nowhere to go, Ruesga told police.

He couldn’t control the car because the rear passenger tire of the Volvo was flat, Ruesga said in the report. He told police the crash happened so fast he didn’t know what happened when he hit the people and that he drove away because he was scared.

Ruesga said he hadn’t been drinking but had smoked “bud” between 1 and 2 p.m. that day, the report said. The crash happened about 2:30 p.m.

He passed field sobriety tests but refused to have his blood drawn. He was arrested on two counts of DUI resulting in death and one count of leaving the scene of a crash involving death or injury, the report said.

Ruesga, of Las Vegas, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, where he is being held without bail.

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