Motorist shaken after dragging hit-and-run victim with her car

Heather Rawlyk

Friday, April 30, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.

A motorist "who hit a bump" on Durango Drive near Interstate 215 on Thursday night was horrified to discover that she had dragged a dead bicyclist under her car, police said.

The 29-year-old man apparently had previously been struck by another vehicle and was lying on Durango at Patrick Lane when the woman hit him, Metro Police Sgt. Frank Weigand said. The dead man's name had not been released this morning. Police said he was a Las Vegas resident.

The man had been riding a bicycle in the right lane in the dark without any reflection devices, Weigand said. That doesn't excuse the first person who hit him, however, and police are now seeking that driver and witnesses to the initial collision.

Sometime after the apparent hit-and-run, 24-year-old Gabriele Snobel was southbound on Durango in her silver Oldsmobile Alero when she "hit a bump," Weigand said.

Witnesses driving behind Snobel said they saw sparks flying from beneath the Alero. The sparks were coming from the bicycle that was being dragged against the pavement, Weigand said.

Snobel stopped her car to see what "the bump" had been and found the bicycle -- and the man lying on the street. She had dragged the victim 60 to 70 feet before stopping, Weigand said.

"All the damage to her car was low and there was no damage to the front or top of the car that would show that she hit him while he was up," Weigand said.

Snobel was very cooperative with police, he said.

"She is helping the best she can, and she is pretty shook up," he said.

Weigand said the preliminary determination is that the death is a felony hit-and-run case, but said he is waiting for the coroner to rule out the possibility of other circumstances.

"It's a mystery right now," he said. "Nobody saw the bicyclist get hit. Nobody is coming forward who saw anything. We're not even sure yet what time the original accident occurred."

The man was the second bicyclist to be killed in a traffic collision this year in Clark County, according to state statistics.