Man in drag-race case dies in crash

Jen Lawson

Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004 | 8:42 a.m.

Fourteen months ago Kent Wilcox participated in a drag race that killed a 31-year-old man. Now Wilcox himself is dead after he lost control of a speeding motorcycle and crashed into a pole on the Las Vegas Beltway.

The Nevada Highway Patrol said 28-year-old Wilcox had been drinking and speeding, just as he allegedly was on Aug. 4, 2003, the night Justin Lindsey died.

"I find it appalling not to be able to learn a lesson," said Leanne Lindsey, Justin Lindsey's mother. "I felt so completely saddened for this kid's parents."

The Highway Patrol crash report says Wilcox was heading east on the beltway on a yellow motorcycle just after midnight Sept. 25 when he went around a curve too fast while approaching Rainbow Boulevard. The speed limit is 45 mph and troopers estimated he was going 65.

Wilcox lost control. The motorcycle hit a fence post and he was thrown into another pole, coming to rest on his back about 240 feet off the road, the report says. He died at the scene.

Bill Bittman was a friend of Justin Lindsey and was there when Lindsey's crash occurred last year. He said it was a shock when he saw Wilcox's obituary.

"To me it's strange how a little over a year later this happened," he said. "I feel for his family and it's sad. Hopefully he wasn't drag racing."

Wilcox, Lindsey and Paul Mooney, 22, were allegedly involved in a race along the 10400 block of Bermuda Road after having some drinks in the Hurricane Bar and Grill.

Lindsey didn't know the other two men, friends said. Wilcox approached Lindsey in the bar parking lot and challenged him to a race.

Authorities allege that Wilcox, in a 1999 BMW, and Mooney, in a 2003 Honda, were going more than 100 mph when Lindsey crashed his Nissan 350Z. He knocked down two light poles and died in the explosion that followed.

Both Wilcox and Mooney fled after Lindsey crashed, police said. Wilcox returned to the scene later with a beer in his hand, police said.

Wilcox and Mooney were charged in October 2003 with two counts each of reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

In a plea deal, the charge of leaving the scene was dropped and both pleaded guilty to reckless driving, according to court records.

At Wilcox's sentencing, Leanne Lindsey begged Judge Joseph Bonaventure to impose a stiff sentence, she said. But Bonaventure gave Wilcox and Mooney each a 19- to 60-month suspended sentence and placed them on probation. Neither served any prison time.

"Now there are two kids dead," she said. "It's just not right."