Local news briefs for August 14, 2000

Monday, Aug. 14, 2000 | 11:33 a.m.

Pregnant woman injured in crash

Metro Police traffic detectives continue to investigate a Saturday afternoon accident that killed an unborn child.

The accident occurred just before 4 p.m. on Rancho Drive near Alexander Road when a Chevrolet Camaro turned in front of a Nissan Sentra, police said.

The Nissan was headed south on Rancho and the Camaro was headed north, when the driver of the Camaro, Kimm Bradford, 40, tried to make a left turn into a parking lot on the west side of Rancho, detectives said.

The cars collided, sending Bradford and the two people in the Nissan to University Medical Center with minor injuries. The passenger in the Nissan, Lynn Vest, 24, was pregnant, and her unborn child died from injuries sustained in the accident, detectives said.

Lowered flags honor NLV's Cooper

Flags at Las Vegas Valley fire stations flew at half staff this morning as firefighters mourned the passing of one of their own.

North Las Vegas Division Chief Brent Cooper died Sunday at MountainView Hospital after losing his fight against cancer.

Cooper was one of three division chiefs in North Las Vegas who supervised the department's 15 engineers, 48 firefighters and 31 paramedics.

Collision with bus turns fatal

A 13-year-old Henderson boy died at University Medical Center Thursday from injuries he sustained when the sport utility vehicle he was in collided with a Citizens Area Transit bus.

Joshua Pazik was riding in a 1998 GMC Suburban west on Warm Springs Road Wednesday afternoon when Mary Lou Pazik, driving the Suburban, tried to turn left onto Spencer Street and collided with the bus going eastbound on Warm Springs.

The front of the bus struck the right side of the Suburban and sent it spinning toward the southeast corner of the intersection, Metro Police traffic detectives said.

Joshua Pazik was seated on the right side in a back seat and was thrown from the SUV during the collision.

Illness may have caused accident

The Clark County coroner's office is investigating the death of a 62-year-old Las Vegas man, killed when his pickup crashed into a wall Sunday. Police say the death may have been related to an illness.

Elbert J. Littrell was driving a 1990 GMC pickup west on Charleston Boulevard near 17th Street when the pickup drifted across the westbound traffic lanes and hit a block wall in the 1600 block of East Charleston.

Littrell was taken to University Medical Center and died shortly after arriving, Metro Police traffic detectives said.

He may have lost control of the pickup because of some kind of medical problem, detectives said.

Man stabbed to death during fight

Jose Alava-Solorzano was identified this morning by the Clark County coroner's office as the man killed during a fight in a northwest Las Vegas house last week.

Alava-Solorzano, 36, died from stab wounds after getting into a fight with another man in a house in the 6400 block of Eagle Point Road near Rainbow Boulevard and Alexander Road Wednesday.

Stephen Capachietti, 21, of Melrose, Mass., was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on murder charges.

A resident of the house saw a Metro Police officer on a traffic stop and told him that two friends were fighting inside his house. Police found Alava-Solorzano dead from multiple stab wounds about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, and Capachietti was taken into custody, police said.

LV air fouled by Arizona storms

The Las Vegas Valley was blanketed Sunday night with dust from winds kicked up from dying thunderstorms in northwestern Arizona, the National Weather Service said.

As thunderheads collapsed in Arizona's skies, the Las Vegas Valley experienced winds from the southeast clocked at more than 20 mph with the highest gust at 29 mph, Weather Service meteorologist Steve Downs said today.

The Clark County Health District did not issue a health advisory.

Downs said there is no rain expected in the Las Vegas Valley today or tonight, but gusty winds with blowing dust could occur again tonight as thunderstorms continue to rumble in Arizona.

The Interstate 15 northbound

freeway exit ramp to East Charleston Boulevard opened Thursday. The ramp was closed for four weeks while crews worked on the I-15 Freeway Channel Flood Control Project.