Las Vegas City Briefs

Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999 | 11:52 a.m.

Stabbing victim's condition improves

A tourist stabbed five times in the parking lot of the Circus Circus hotel-casino has been upgraded to fair condition at University Medical Center.

The 64-year-old Tennessee man, his wife and two children were confronted by a man armed with a knife after parking their car in the casino's lot off Industrial Road.

The victim was stabbed twice before the suspect demanded any money in the failed robbery attempt at about 10:30 p.m. on July 29. The victim was then stabbed three more times.

The victim's wife was treated and released from UMC for a knife slash across the face, which she received when she attempted to stop the attack on her husband.

Police are looking for a Hispanic man between 17 and 21-years-old in connection with the failed robbery. The man is about 5 feet 6 inches tall and fled northbound on Industrial in a red pickup truck with a white camper shell, police said.

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call Secret Witness at 385-5555 or Metro's robbery detail at 229-3591.

Driver cited in crash with school bus

The driver of a pickup that collided with a school bus last week has been cited by Metro Police.

Samuel Ford, 44, of Las Vegas, was issued a $190 citation for failing to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Fort Apache and Spring Mountain roads July 26. A bus carrying 52 students to Roger Bryan Elementary School had stopped at the intersection and was proceeding through when it hit Ford's truck, police said.

Fifteen students, including a critically injured 10-year-old, were taken to University Medical Center after the accident. The girl has since been released from the hospital.

Man pulled from pond identified

A man who drowned in a Lorenzi Park pond last Friday has been identified by the coroner's office as 41-year-old Alberto Acosta.

Acosta waded into the pond behind the park's fieldhouse just after 2 p.m. and began struggling in the water, according to a Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman. Another person tried to pull Acosta out but was unable to find him in the murky water.

A fire department crew found Acosta's body 90 minutes later in 9 feet of water about 5 feet from the shore.

Pedestrian hit by car identified

A pedestrian who was struck by a car and killed while trying to cross Boulder Highway last Wednesday has been identified as Armando Renteria Hernandez, 36, of Las Vegas.

Metro Police say Hernandez was trying to cross the highway outside of a crosswalk south of Mayorga Street when he was hit. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Funeral scheduled for family killed

Services for the family killed in a head-on collision in North Las Vegas will be held Friday.

Darrell Robert Wharton, 39, Brenda Wharton, 38, and their 3-year-old daughter, Autumn, were killed on Saturday near the intersection of Lake Mead Boulevard and Simmons Street when another car crossed into eastbound traffic colliding with the Wharton's car.

Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. at Bunker's Mortuary, 925 N. Las Vegas Blvd., and services will be at 1 p.m.

Channel planned near mobile home park

The Clark County Commission is looking into ways to expedite building a temporary flood control channel near Miracle Mile Mobile Home Park.

The property owner at the park has given his full cooperation to the project, and will sit down with officials in the near future to donate at least 100 feet of easement land to help retrofit the channel, Commissioner Myrna Williams said.

Public Works teams have already surveyed the current channel from the ground and air and are scheduled to define the right of way for future dedication within the next two weeks.