Woman’s estate sues trucking firm, driver over bicycle death

The estate of a Las Vegas bicyclist who was struck and killed by a truck in January 2019 has filed a civil lawsuit against the truck’s operator and driver, according to court records.

The District Court lawsuit was filed Jan. 5 on behalf of the estate of Stephanie Ann Sierad, 48, nearly two years year after she was killed while riding her bicycle on Joe W. Brown Drive at Desert Inn Road. The suit names as defendants Discount Dumpsters, doing business as Western Elite, and a truck driver identified as Michael Velasquez.

Metropolitan police said at the time of Sierad’s death that a 2005 Sterling truck was traveling south on Joe W. Brown, attempting to make a right turn onto Desert Inn, when Sierad attempted to pass on the right. The bicycle struck the right front tire of the truck and overturned. The truck continued to turn and rolled over the bicycle and rider, police said.

Boyd Moss, attorney for Sierad’s estate, said she had five children.

“What we’ve seen in Las Vegas over the last several years, but it has been very prevalent in the news lately, is that we have an epidemic when it comes to bicyclist deaths, pedestrian deaths, and it doesn’t seem to be getting better,” Moss said. “It seems like it is a systemic failure, and we believe that a lot of these deaths are preventable.

“It is our position that this was a preventable death,” Moss said. “The family, more than anything, wants answers.”

A spokesman for Western Elite was contacted last week, but the company had not responded to the Review-Journal’s request for comment as of Monday morning. Court records do not list attorneys for Western Elite, Discount Dumpsters or Velasquez.

The safety of bicyclists on Southern Nevada roadways has been much discussed in recent weeks after the deaths of five bicyclists on U.S. Highway 95 near Searchlight on Dec. 10. Those bicyclists were struck and killed by a box truck driven by Jordan Barson, 45, who is now charged with driving under the influence causing death. Southern

Nevada law enforcement, in response to the tragedy, said it was increasing enforcement of Nevada’s 3-foot rule, which says drivers must move over to give cyclists adequate room on the road.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.