Car makes quite a splash in Las Vegas neighborhood

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2002 | 11:22 a.m.

It's the sort of thing you don't see every day, even in a place as interesting as Las Vegas.

Norma Ward was getting ready to take her grandchildren to karate lessons Monday afternoon from their northwest Las Vegas home, when she saw a Mercedes crash through the brick wall of the neighboring house, jump a flower planter and land in the swimming pool.

"We have attractions in Las Vegas that are exciting, but this was exciting for the neighborhood," Ward said.

The 35-year-old driver, a Las Vegas man, climbed out of the car through the sun roof and escaped the chilly water, she said.

Las Vegas Fire and Rescue crews and Metro Police responded to the accident in the 9500 block of Kelly Creek Way about 4 p.m., Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. They found the car in eight feet of water.

"I was very lucky," Ward said, noting her property line is two feet away from where the car crashed. "It's right next door to me and I don't have a pool to protect me."

Ward said she ran into the yard with her neighbors at the sound of the crash.

"All I could see was just the trunk above the pool's surface," she said.

Homeowner David Thompson was not at home at the time of the accident, ironically running an errand to buy supplies for home repairs, Metro Police said.

The driver, whose name was not released this morning, "took a brick wall down," Szymanski said, adding that the driver was taken to Summerlin Hospital with minor injuries.

He was in fair condition at the hospital Monday night, Summerlin Hospital spokeswoman Stacy Lee-Harrington said. He was admitted for observation overnight, she said.

Police could charge him with failure to maintain a travel lane, but the investigation into the accident is continuing.

Michael Burdick, president of the neighborhood homeowner association, said that the community's wall would be repaired as soon as possible to keep children and pets safe and out of the pool.

As Metro traffic officers were investigating the cause of the crash, Ward had a theory of her own. Gowan Road has a slight curve. "He just forgot to straighten the car out," she said.

"He's a very lucky young man," Ward said.