Three deadly crashes occur on Southern Nevada highways

Authorities suspect alcohol or drugs were factors in three fatal wrecks Sunday morning on Southern Nevada highways, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

The first wreck occurred about 3:30 a.m. on Interstate 15 three miles south of Sloan, Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Kevin Honea said.

A man driving north in a Nissan pickup drifted into another lane, struck the back of a GMC Sonoma pickup and then hit the center median wall, Honea said.

The driver of the Nissan, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the Nissan and was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, Honea said. The two people in the GMC were uninjured.

The second deadly crash of the morning occurred about 7:30 a.m., just south of the first.

Authorities had closed down two of the three northbound lanes on I-15 because of the collision involving the pickups, but a man driving a Ford SVT Focus approached the slowed traffic at a high rate of speed, Honea said.

The man tried to drive around a Honda sedan but struck an outside median, he said.

The Ford then struck the passenger side of the Honda, pushing it into a parked Nevada Department of Transportation truck, Honea said.

The 80-year-old driver of the Honda was pronounced dead, and his female passenger was airlifted to University Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the NDOT truck was taken to UMC with minor injuries.

The driver of the Ford drove away from the crash, headed southbound in the northbound lanes, Honea said. Troopers stopped the driver about five miles away and booked him into the county jail.

A couple of hours later, about 9:30 a.m., a man in his early 20s in a Chevrolet Trailblazer lost control of his vehicle on U.S. Highway 95 at Ann Road, Honea said.

The Trailblazer hit a guardrail and started to roll down the embankment between Ann and U.S. 95, and the driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the Chevrolet, Honea said.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-4638.