LV man to stand trial in death of boy at bus stop

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Friday, June 4, 2004 | 9:18 a.m.

The man charged with crashing his truck into a Las Vegas bus stop on May 3, killing a 4-year-old boy and hospitalizing the child's mother, will stand trial, Justice of the Peace Robert Walsh ruled on Thursday.

Nicolas Serrano-Villagrana, 32, is scheduled to appear before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure on June 17 on felony charges of drunken driving resulting in death in connection with the accident earlier this month that killed Angel Avendano.

Because the boy's 32-year-old mother, Eulogia Avendano, and a second woman, Nijailia Altitijka Graves, were injured in the crash, Serrano-Villagrana is also charged with two counts of felony DUI with substantial bodily harm.

The state provided lab results during the last day of the preliminary hearing that found cocaine in the system of Serrano-Villagrana, who police earlier said had a blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash more than 2 1/2 times the legal limit.

Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson called several witnesses to the stand, but all seemingly had a different story to share about who they saw driving the truck.

Eulogia Avendano, who has since been released from the hospital but still requires a wheelchair to move around, testified she never saw Serrano-Villagrana but heard from someone at the scene that he was in the vehicle and was removing beer from the truck.

Celia Ortiz and Arnulfo Rodriguez, a married couple from California, were in the same car when they saw the crash, but only Ortiz identified Serrano-Villagrana as being in the truck.

Gabriella Solis, who lives across the street from the scene of the crash, said Serrano-Villagrana was the driver and removed beer from the vehicle as he exited the truck. She did, however, testify that although she was wearing her glasses in court she did not have them on when she witnessed the crash.

Serrano-Villagrana's attorney, Philip Singer, said there was no way a woman not wearing the glasses she needed to see could have identified his client from a distance of about 50 feet.

The most interesting testimony of the day came from Graves, who was injured in the crash. In custody on a petty larceny warrant, Graves said that from four inches away from the front windshield she could not identify Serrano-Villagrana as being in the car. Graves did say she saw two Hispanic men in the vehicle.

Singer said he expected the case to be bound over to District Court because a little boy died in the accident and the media is interested, but he expects to be approached with a deal from the prosecution because, he said, prosecutors have no case.

"I expect the state to come to me and acknowledge the lack of evidence they have and offer my client a plea agreement," Singer said. "If they don't we will put as many eyewitnesses as they do on the stand to testify my client was not driving the truck."

Singer hopes Bonaventure will reduce Serrano-Villagrana's bail from $500,000 to between $250,000 to $100,000.

Singer said an investigator he has hired is looking for the mysterious second person he contends was driving the car with Serrano-Villagrana.

On the day of the crash, however, police said witnesses pointed out Serrano-Villagrana as the driver and they saw him throw an 18-pack of Bud Light out of the truck.