Trooper death under investigation

Tuesday, May 30, 2000 | 11:32 a.m.

Nevada Highway Patrol investigators are trying to determine if alcohol was involved with a Michigan State Police trooper killed as she tried to cross Interstate 15 Friday night.

Trooper Dana Marie VanAdel, 35, of Whitehall, Mich., started walking east across I-15 southbound about 8:45 p.m. and was struck by a car in the slow lane and then hit and dragged by another car, said Trooper Alan Davidson, a highway patrol spokesman.

Investigators say VanAdel may have been hit by several other cars and was dragged more than 200 feet down the freeway. The accident occurred just north of the Flamingo Road exit.

Davidson said that investigators are still uncertain as to why VanAdel, who was a trooper with 14 years of law enforcement experience, would attempt to walk across the freeway. VanAdel was a trooper working out of Muskegon, Mich.

Clark County Coroner officials sent a sample of VanAdel's blood to a lab for toxicology tests. The results were not back as of this morning.

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