Doctor criticizes CAT bus driver for lack of concern at crash site

By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A Citizens Area Transit bus driver who was one of the first at the shooting scene of local race car driver Chris Trickle was called anything but a hero by a doctor who was on the bus.

Trickle, the nephew of NASCAR Winston Cup driver Dick Trickle and a promising professional driver in his own right, was critically injured about 9:50 p.m. Sunday when he was shot in the head while driving across the Interstate 15 overpass on Blue Diamond Road.

Trickle's condition didn't worsen overnight, and he was in a medicinally induced coma today, a nursing supervisor said. Doctors operated on him a second time Tuesday night, to remove remaining bullet fragments from his brain.

Metro Police homicide investigators are continuing the search for a white man, 30-35 years old and 6 feet tall with blond, shoulder-length hair or a ponytail, who hailed a Citizens Area Transit bus and requested assistance for Trickle, whose convertible left the road and came to a stop against a highway sign.

It was not a doctor and his wife who flagged down the bus and, along with the bus driver, administered first aid to Trickle, as earlier reported.

According to Dr. Sandra Clancey, a trauma surgeon from Davis, Calif., she was on the bus with her husband, a volunteer fireman and emergency medical technician, when the blond man flagged down the bus.

Clancey, who was vacationing in Las Vegas with friends from England, said a news story that portrayed the bus driver as some sort of Samaritan is erroneous.

"The bus driver was totally (uncooperative)," said Clancey, who righted Trickle's head and cleared his breathing passage. "She did not want to stop.

"Here's a young man dying on us and all she kept saying was 'I've got my route, I've got my route.' She left us stranded in the cold and dark. She didn't care."

Clancey said she wanted to set the record straight before the bus driver, a female identified only as "Dianne," was lauded for her actions.

"If she were to get some sort of ... medal, I'd tell her to put it where the sun doesn't shine," Clancey said.

But David Boggs, general manager of ATC-Vancom, a private company that runs CAT, said the operator was on her route on her way back from the Boomtown hotel-casino when the blond man waved her down.

"She was coming back out of Boomtown and a person came over and flagged her down," Boggs said. "She stopped. She followed our procedures. She called an ambulance through our radio dispatch. She waited for a response to make sure that the ambulance and police were on the way. Once that was done, then, yes, she did continue on her route."

Michael Clancey, the doctor's husband and an attorney in Sacramento, Calif., said the blond man handed him a flashlight, which he and his wife used to administer to Trickle.

He described the man, who was carrying a bag, as clean shaven and articulate. He said the man left the scene on foot before police arrived.

"Once the sirens were heard, he (walked off)," Clancey said.

Clancey said he repeatedly told investigating officers that the blond man walked away toward Las Vegas Boulevard. But he said the officers did not seem interested in pursuing the man.

He said it should have been obvious that Trickle's injuries were not caused by the accident but the officers felt otherwise.

"They came up with some bizarre theory that (the injuries) were caused by some sort of jiggling (of Trickle's head) on the driver's side," Clancey said.

"I must have told them three of four times ... the (blond-haired) guy was going down the road."

Clancey said the blond man did not appear agitated or suspicious. He said the only thing that struck him as unusual was the man's reaction when Clancey and his wife tried to comfort Trickle.

"He smiled and said "Yeah, yeah give him the soft touch,'" said Clancy, adding there was a "voyeuristic" quality to the man's remark.

Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren, a Las Vegas neurosurgeon who performed both surgeries on Trickle, told a television reporter that it appeared Trickle had been shot right between the eyes.

"He must have been looking straight at the gun," said Hammargren, who added that Trickle's progress has exceeded his initial expectations.

"I would only say what's in my heart ... it didn't appear he was going to make it after I left him (Monday) night ... but he's better today. There's a chance he can come out of this intellectually OK, still with major disabilities."

Police are asking anyone who might have been in the area at the time of the incident to call Metro homicide detectives at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.