Recycling truck backs over, kills 6-year-old Vegas boy

Jace Radke

Tuesday, April 4, 2000 | 11:40 a.m.

Urgent care medical assistant Sheri Brown is used to helping people, but there was nothing she could do for a 6-year-old boy who died after a Republic Silver State recycling truck backed over him Monday evening.

Brown was on her way home when she noticed something was wrong in her neighborhood northwest of Rainbow Boulevard and Gowan Road shortly after 6 p.m.

"I saw that a truck had hit someone, and I ran inside my parents' house and called 911," Brown said. "Then I ran down the street to see if I could help with CPR, but when I saw the little boy under the truck, I knew there was nothing I could do."

The accident happened just before 6 p.m., when 6-year-old Zachary Gillies, who was riding his Mongoose bicycle with a friend where Clarkson Street and Welsh Circle meet, rode into the rear of the recycling truck as it was backing up in the Welsh Circle cul-de-sac, Metro Police Detective Doug Nutton said. The boy fell to the ground and was crushed by the left rear wheels.

"The recycling truck was backing up slowly to make its way out of the cul-de-sac," Nutton said. "We will be looking at the video from the truck's rear cameras, but this was definitely an accident."

The safety features on the 1999 Volvo recycling truck, driven by Dale Hursh, 32, of Las Vegas, were all working as it was reversing, Nutton said. No charges have been filed.

"It has the flashing warning lights and the loud beeping that large vehicles have when they are backing up," Nutton said. "The driver was sober and had not been working an exorbitant amount of time."

Nutton described the driver as emotionally distraught over the accident.

"He reported hearing a strange noise behind the truck and then stopping," Nutton said. "A general rule with big trucks is that if you can't see the mirrors they can't see you, and that puts the driver in a tough spot."

Neighbors were stunned by the accident.

"We have so many kids in this neighborhood," Brown said. "You see them outside on their bikes all the time."

Diana Campbell came home from a trip to the grocery store to find police tape stretching across Welsh in front of her house.

"Whose little boy was hit?" Campbell yelled as she rushed up her front lawn.

When she found her 8-year-old son, Matthew, she hugged him close and collapsed to the lawn, crying.

A Trauma Intervention Program volunteer was on hand to offer counseling for the victim's family and neighbors.

It was the 20th traffic fatality this year in Metro's jurisdiction.

Jace Radke is a reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-2318 or by e-mail at jace@lasvegassun.com