Five injured as SUV runs into county office

Five people were hurt Monday afternoon when a sport utility vehicle plowed into the Clark County satellite office in a Henderson strip mall.

The crash occurred about 5 p.m. at 245 N. Stephanie St., between American Pacific Drive and Warm Springs Road.

Henderson police said none of the injuries was life threatening.

Authorities identified the driver as Stephen Earley, 64, of Henderson.

Police said Earley's 2006 Ford Escape was traveling west on Trail Canyon Road when it crossed Stephanie, went through the strip mall parking lot and slammed into the building.

Earley, the 14-year-old boy riding with him and three people inside the office were taken to St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus.

Police spokesman Keith Paul said drugs or alcohol are not thought to be factors in the crash. Earley told police that the Escape's accelerator stuck.

The vehicle will undergo a safety inspection as part of the investigation, Paul said.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Knight said the county opened the office in April 2002 for people with business to conduct with the assessor's and recorder's offices.

Two of the three people injured inside the office were county employees, but Knight declined to identify them, discuss their injuries or confirm whether they were still in the hospital.

One person claiming to be a witness to the crash said Earley ran the red light at Trail Canyon and Stephanie, narrowly missing cross traffic on his way into the strip mall parking lot.

The crash came a few minutes before the satellite office was due to close for the day.

Allyson Taylor went to the office Tuesday morning to get certified copies of some documents. Instead she found the front windows boarded up and a crew of workers cleaning up debris inside.

She couldn't believe the amount of damage.

"It didn't look like a car had driven through. It looked like a bomb had gone off in there," Taylor said. "There was no semblance of any office left inside."

The neighboring businesses also appeared to be closed, she said.

On Tuesday, the county's Web site gave little hint of what had happened the day before.

All the message said was, "The Henderson Office will be temporarily closed until further notice."

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.