Propane leaks from cab after accident

Wednesday, March 25, 1998 | 9:42 a.m.

A two-car auto accident at Charleston Boulevard and 15th Street early today snarled traffic after a cab's ruptured propane tank fuel line gushed the explosive liquid gas onto the street.

Police blocked off the two roads following the spectacular 3:49 a.m. accident that sent the Checker Cab driver to the University Medical Center with what turned out to be mild injuries.

The cab driver, whose name was not immediately released, was slated to be released from the hospital early today, the hospital said. He was the only one in the cab at the time of the accident.

"He was critical at the scene," said Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski. "So great was the impact of the crash the driver was found unconscious in the back seat."

The cab driver had to be freed from the vehicle by the jaws of life, officials said.

The other car, a Dodge Mini Van, was traveling south on 15th Street. It was driven by a 16-year-old runaway, police said. He was taken into custody. His name was not immediately released.

It took officials 3 1/2 hours to clear the scene so that morning traffic in the downtown area could proceed.

"Our concern was the safety and getting things cleared up before the rush hour," said Metro Sgt. Phil Galvan.

Police patrol cars and two Metro fire engines escorted the skid carrying the wreck to the Las Vegas Fire Department Fire Training Center, avoiding neighborhoods in case the tank exploded.

"Ordinarily in situations like this we would have just turned off the valve to the tank, but the vehicle was so demolished we couldn't get a hand in there to reach the valve and shut it off," Szymanski said.

The cab was traveling east on Charleston and apparently had the green light when it was hit. Officials said it bounced into a traffic light pole.

"Our concern was that propane in its gaseous form can ignite and that the vapors hug the ground," Szymanski said.

After the mangled cab was removed from the scene, city street sweepers were brought in to clean the road and traffic was restored by 7:30 a.m.

In the late 1980s, the SUN wrote a series of stories and columns on the dangers of Yellow-Checker Cab. Co. maintaining a 30,000-gallon propane tank in the downtown area.

The news stories, which reported that an explosion could have killed hundreds and injured thousands, resulted in city officials putting pressure on the company to move its refueling center out of the downtown area, which it subsequently did.

In 1991, the owner of the cab company, Milton Schwartz, filed a $300 million lawsuit against the SUN, claiming that the articles defamed him. A District Court jury found that the SUN did not libel Schwartz.

Las September, a propane-fueled Yellow-Checker cab blew up outside the Palace Station, prompting the Taxicab Authority to order every cab in the fleet to be inspected.