Pedestrian hit by cab still in serious condition

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

A North Carolina woman in Las Vegas for the MAGIC convention remained in serious condition this morning after she was struck by a taxicab while illegally crossing the street.

Sandra Kurilchyk, 56, was taken to University Medical Center shortly after the accident, about 8:15 Tuesday morning, with serious head trauma, according to Metro Police.

Metro Police said taxi driver Muharem Olevic, 60, struck Kurilchyk when she was crossing between cars stopped at a red light at the intersection of Convention Center Drive and Paradise Road, near the Las Vegas Convention Center. Olevic was moving into the left turn lane when he struck Kurilchyk, police said.

Neither Olevic nor the three passengers in his cab were injured in the accident, according to police. An investigation underway by Metro's Transportation Safety Bureau will determine if Olevic faces charges.

Kurilchyk, of Jamestown, N.C., was walking by herself from the Marriott hotel on Convention Center, where she was staying, to the MAGIC fashion convention nearby, Metro Traffic Detective Doug Nutton said.

She was carrying four pairs of blue jeans that she prepared to showcase for VF Jeanswear, a company participating in the show, he said.

Sam Tucker, a spokesman for Greensboro, N.C.-based VF, refused to comment this morning, other than to confirm Kurilchyk was an employee of the company.

"She's jaywalking and is outside of any crosswalk," Nutton said of the conditions at the time of the accident. "Traffic is heavy and is backed up and she cut between those stopped vehicles and gets hit by a cab."

Officers were already directing abnormally heavy traffic Tuesday morning in and out of the convention center, where more than 90,000 participants attended the MAGIC show, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Eyewitnesses told police at the scene that Olevic's cab appeared to be traveling about 45 mph -- 10 mph over the posted speed limit -- when it struck Kurilchyk in the center median, where it appeared he was illegally travelling to pass the stopped cars, Nutton said.

Vehicles are legally permitted to enter the turn lane up to 200 feet and preliminary measurements showed Olevic's cab beyond the limit by several feet, Nutton said.

Both citations would be misdemeanors, he said.

While Olevic will likely be cited entering the lane too soon and possibly for speeding, the "number one" cause was jaywalking, Nutton said.

"His use of that lane puts him in violation of that center turn lane," Nutton said. "But it doesn't make him the at-fault factor. The number one cause is jaywalking."

Twenty-two pedestrians have died this year after being struck by moving vehicles, Nutton said, compared with 36 in 2003.