Man to serve up to 40 years after fatal 9-car wreck
A 32-year-old man who rammed his Dodge Challenger into another vehicle at nearly 100 mph, killing a Las Vegas woman and causing a nine-vehicle crash, must serve up to 40 years in prison, a judge ordered Thursday.
Ellen Finnie Gallucci, 65, died when her vehicle rolled over after Kenneth Rankin sped through a red light on Cheyenne Avenue and Jones Boulevard in February.
The "expanding circle of destruction" that resulted after Rankin fled from police injured several others, including his 48-year-old passenger, who was left nearly brain dead, said prosecutor Brian Rutledge.
District Judge Michael Villani ruled that Rankin should serve at least 16 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole.
The prosecutor said Rankin had more than seven times the legal limit of marijuana in his system after he was hospitalized from the wreck. Rankin also tested positive for codeine after having ingested what's known as purple drank, a concoction of cough syrup and soft drinks.
Police had obtained a warrant for Rankin's arrest after undercover Metro investigators purchased small amounts of marijuana at Rankin's home. They kept the house under surveillance and tried to pull him over after he was spotted leaving the home with a large bag of marijuana.
As officers stepped out of their vehicle along Cheyenne Avenue and started walking toward the 2012 Challenger, Rankin slammed on the gas and made a U-turn, heading east on Cheyenne, in an attempt to flee, Rutledge said.
The road was "jam-packed with cars" in the middle of the afternoon, Rutledge said. "By the time (officers) manage to get back into their car, he's already killed one person and injured many, many more."
The driver of the first car that was hit in the wreck, 88-year-old George Powell, of Las Vegas, was traveling through the intersection on a green light. Powell also suffered serious injuries, police said.
Rankin reached speeds of 111 mph and was traveling about 95 mph when his car T-boned the driver's side of Gallucci's 2000 Nissan Xterra.
"His car hits like a bullet," Rutledge said, "and then there's an explosion. ... It's amazing only one person died."
Gallucci's son, Chris Gardner, told the judge that his mother, a dog groomer, was "the thread that kept our family together."
Both the Challenger and Xterra then struck a 2000 Toyota Rav4 traveling north on Jones.
Force from the Challenger’s impact caused the Xterra and the Rav4 to roll over. The driver of the Rav4, 60-year-old Susan Cintron of Las Vegas, suffered serious injuries.
Five other vehicles, stopped facing west on Cheyenne Avenue for a red light, were damaged by the Challenger, Xterra and Rav4, police said.
Four people were taken to hospitals in the area with minor injuries. Five children, ranging from 2 to 16 years old, were involved but uninjured in the crash.
Police later found a pound of marijuana inside Rankin's car.
Rankin's defense lawyer, Jack Buchanan, had asked the judge for a sentence of 8 to 20 years behind bars.
At 15, Rankin had been charged as an adult and convicted of four felonies in connection with a string of robberies and spent about 12 years in prison. He was released at age 28, and had not been charged with a crime until the crash, his lawyer said.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.
