Drag race victim not a ‘show-off’

Jen Lawson and Will Oremus

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

Drag racing killed him, but Justin Lindsey wasn't a drag racer, his friends said Tuesday night.

Gathered around a candle-lit altar in front of the Hurricane Bar and Grill, Lindsey's friends and family remembered him as a free spirit, unfailingly kind and upbeat, always creative. He was on a roll, they said, his career in the Las Vegas film industry taking off.

No one could explain why he accepted a challenge to race his new sports car outside the bar early Monday.

Lindsey, 31, lost control of his silver Nissan 350Z and crashed, injuring a spectator and carving a swath of destruction along the 10400 block of Bermuda Avenue.

"He wasn't a hot-shot show-off," said Lindsey's mother, Leanne. "It's just one of those freaky things, and I still don't know the details."

Lindsey had a beer and a shot while at the bar, but he wasn't drunk when the crash happened, his friend Bill Bittman said.

Metro Police Detective Corey Moon said results of a toxicology test are pending.

According to Bittman, Lindsey went to the bar around 10 p.m. and decided to go home around 1 a.m., Bittman said.

In the parking lot, a man challenged Lindsey to a race down Bermuda Road, Bittman said.

"I don't know how it got brought up," Bittman said. "I said, 'Justin, you can beat him.' "

Lindsey and two other men -- Kent Wilcox in a BMW and Paul Mooney in a Honda -- lined up as several friends looked on, police said.

"I was the one who flagged them off," Bittman said. "It's just a horrible, horrible, horrible thing that happened."

The three cars sped down the street, turned around and raced back. On the return trip, Bittman said, Lindsey lost control of his car. Moon said Lindsey was going at least 80 mph.

"I remember hearing (Lindsey) hitting his brakes, then he skidded out," Bittman said. He watched as the car hit another friend, Aaron Harris, 22, who was standing on the sidewalk.

Harris suffered serious injuries and was listed in fair condition this morning at University Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said. Wilcox and Mooney may face reckless driving charges, police said.

References to how Lindsey died were few at the vigil outside the bar Tuesday night, as the 50 or so in attendance focused instead on celebrating the life of a man who "could make whoever was in his presence feel like they were the most important person," his mother said.

Police said Lindsey's death and the spectator's injury was senseless and the result of stupidity. They said most street racing involves teens, not people who are older and should know better.

Getting involved in the drag race and encouraging Lindsey "was the stupidest thing I've ever done," Bittman said. But, he said, "Everyone got in their cars willingly. It's really nobody's fault."

Family friend and entertainment producer Jaki Baskow called the race "a bar rivalry thing."

"It was done very innocently. It was something that wasn't supposed to happen," Baskow said.

Mark Stabile, Lindsey's friend, said he never knew Lindsey to drive recklessly. In fact, he said he used to tease him about driving "like a grandpa."

Lindsey's mother and others said he had bought the new sports car to celebrate the conclusion of a long stretch of grueling yet successful work.

"He came to me and he said, 'Mom, I really want this car,' " Leanne Lindsey recalled. "I said, 'You know what, you deserve it.' "

Justin Lindsey, a 1989 graduate of Valley High School, got involved in the film industry about 10 years ago through his mother, who is a casting agent.

Lindsey worked on movies, music videos and commercials that were filmed locally, including "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas " and "Pay It Forward," friends and family said. He joined forces with a friend, Jon Profant, about six years ago, and they formed an informal company, Art Corps.

Lindsey was registered with the Nevada Film Office as a freelance props master, set designer and set dresser, film office production manager Jeanne Corcoran said.

"He was just a really talented young man who had a lot of promise, and a lapse in judgment cost him his life," Corcoran said.