News briefs for Jan. 27, 2004

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 | 10:53 a.m.

Three injured in I-15 collision

A three-vehicle accident on Interstate 15 near Desert Inn Road sent three people to the hospital and tied up traffic for more than three hours early Monday night.

The accident occurred around 6:20 p.m., when a Pontiac Grand Am went left into another lane and under the rear axle of a tractor-trailer, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Loy Hixson said.

The car then crashed into a wall and bounced back into traffic, where it was hit by a Ford Mustang, which was sent into another wall, Hixson said.

Three men in their 20s were in the Grand Am and were seriously injured and taken to University Medical Center. They all had head injuries and one had a broken leg, Hixson said. The men did not have identification on them, he said.

The people in the other vehicles were not injured, he said.

CAT bus runs over pedestrian, 72

A Citizens Area Transit bus struck and seriously injured a pedestrian Monday morning at the intersection of Fourth Street and Carson Avenue.

Witnesses told police the bus was making a right turn from Carson onto Fourth on a green light.

Sven Sandberg, 72, of British Columbia, was trying to cross Fourth inside a marked crosswalk, with a green pedestrian walk signal flashing.

Witnesses said the bus driver did not yield the right of way to Sandberg and struck him, pulling him underneath the bus, police said.

Sandberg was taken to University Medical Center and rushed into surgery. He was updated today from serious to fair condition. Metro Police said failure to yield the right of way to a pedestrian was the cause of the accident.

John Del Prado, owner of the World Merchants-Importers jewelry store at 310 Carson Ave., was working when he heard a loud scream and saw the accident.

"I dropped what I was doing and called 911," he said. "I let the emergency personnel know that the man needed medical attention right away."

Former cop makes deal on sex charge

A former Metro Police officer charged with sexually assaulting a Henderson teen pleaded guilty to a lesser charge on Monday after working out a deal with prosecutors.

During a hearing before District Judge Donald Mosley, Jason Woodard pleaded guilty to a single count of attempted lewdness with a minor under the age of 14.

Woodard entered an equivalent of a no contest plea. Prosecutors agreed not to argue against probation when Woodard is sentenced March 31.

The Metro officer of four years was arrested after an 18-year-old woman alleged he had been sexually assaulting her from the time she was 13 until she was 16. Authorities say the abuse occurred during three separate periods between 1996 and 1999 while the girl babysat Woodard's children.

In exchange for Woodard's guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed multiple charges, which included lewdness with a child under the age of 14 and sexual assault with a minor under the age of 16.

A Spirit Airlines flight

bound for Chicago returned to McCarran International Airport early today after declaring an emergency with smoke in the cockpit, airport officials said. The airline attributed the problem to haze in the cockpit because of moisture on an intake valve.