Boys recovering from wreck that killed mom

Keith Paul

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

In an instant Ariksyn Paulin went from a rambunctious 7-year-old who loved playing with Pokemon toys and talked a lot to a scared little boy who can say no more about an accident Tuesday night other than his mother was killed.

"He normally talks a lot. Sometimes more than I want him to," said Andrew Jagt, Ariksyn's stepfather, as he forced a smile. "He just says his mom died and he won't say anything else."

Ariksyn, his 4-year-old brother Tristen Jagt and their mother, Stephanie Paulin, were struck by a large flatbed truck on Valley View Boulevard at Fulton Place as they were crossing the street. Ariksyn and his little brother were injured, but their 28-year-old mother was killed. Ariksyn was listed in fair condition this morning at University Medical Center, and Tristen was listed in good condition.

"The little one says his mother got hit by a truck and keeps asking when she is going to get better," Jagt said Wednesday afternoon as his sons recuperated in the hospital. "I don't know how I'm going to tell him. It's hard for me that she's gone."

The family lives in a modest apartment on East Charleston Boulevard. Paulin worked at the same restaurant -- the Olive Garden on Decatur Boulevard -- as her husband, but they worked opposite shifts so someone was always around for the boys.

The family has struggled since moving to Las Vegas from Southern California about 18 months ago, but it was surviving, Jagt said. For months the family didn't have a phone, but Tuesday Paulin gathered her children and took a bus to the Valley View Boulevard Sprint office to have service turned on.

About 6:15 p.m. Tuesday she and her children were crossing Valley View Boulevard at Fulton Place to the east side of the street, near the Las Vegas Valley Water District. They were making their way to Charleston Boulevard to catch a bus home.

A moment later, the boys were lying in the street injured and their mother was dead.

About the same time Jagt was riding a bus east on Charleston Boulevard on his way home from the restaurant, unaware of their fate.

"I probably rode right by there," Jagt said.

He made his way home and was waiting for his family to get back when he heard a knock on the door. An official from the Clark County Coroner's Office was outside.

"When I heard the door, I thought it was Steph, but when I heard it was the coroner's office," Jagt, said stopping himself before finishing the sentence. "I mean it's the last thing you think is going to happen. We were struggling, working and trying to keep our kids fed."

Metro Police are still investigating the accident but believe the truck driver, who hasn't been located, may not have even known he struck Paulin and her two children. The driver apparently was making a right turn on a green traffic light onto Valley View Boulevard, said Detective Bill Johnson, a traffic fatality investigator.

Paulin appeared to be crossing Valley View Boulevard at Fulton Place against signs prohibiting pedestrian crossings, police said.

Witnesses told investigators the truck driver continued down the road after the accident at a normal speed, leading police to suspect the driver may not have realized he struck Paulin and her two children.

Jagt said he wants the driver found so the police can talk to him to ensure it was an accident.