News briefs for September 24, 2004

Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 11:29 a.m.

Car strikes, kills man on sidewalk

A man who was standing on a corner died after a car drove up onto the sidewalk and struck him Thursday morning, Metro Police said.

The man was on the northeast corner of Tropicana Avenue and Valley View Boulevard about 8:30 a.m. when a 1999 Ford Taurus driven by Bruce Copland, 49, jumped the curb and struck him, police said. Copland had been driving west on Tropicana.

Copland continued into Valley View Boulevard where he hit another car and pushed that into a third, police said.

The 37-year-old pedestrian, whose name had not been released this morning, was taken to University Medical Center and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Nobody else was seriously injured.

Man killed while going for gasoline

A Las Vegas man was killed Thursday night when he tried to cross a busy highway off-ramp on his way to find gasoline for his car.

Thomas Sampson, 49, apparently ran out of gas as he was traveling south on U.S. 95 near the Russell Road exit about 9:20 p.m. Thursday. He then left the car and walked toward the exit, where he was struck by a pickup truck, Trooper Angie Chavera, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Highway Patrol, said.

He died at the scene, Chavera said.

The 50-year-old woman driving the pickup stopped and called the Highway Patrol, Chavera said. A woman who said she was Sampson's wife arrived shortly after the accident, telling officers she had been waiting in the car for him to return with fuel, Chavera said.

The driver of the pickup was not cited and was not injured, she said.

"The average citizen doesn't expect someone to run across the highway in front of them," Chavera said. "Unfortunately, if someone's running across the highway, it's the pedestrian's fault."

The Highway Patrol encourages people who run out of gas to dial *NHP on a cell phone or flag down a trooper instead of attempting to cross the highway, she said.

"That's our job," Chavera said. "We'd rather help someone get gas than respond to a fatality."

Two children injured in crash

Two children, ages 4 and 7, were in critical condition after a multivehicle collision at a four-way stop Thursday morning, according to Metro Police.

Police report that Sharon Rapstad, 57, was traveling south on Hualapai Way in a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban at about 7:45 a.m. when she ran a stop sign at Desert Inn Road and collided with a 1997 Toyota Avalon driven by Dawn Blinder, 35, and carrying her two children, police said.

Rapstad's SUV and Blinder's sedan then spun into a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Juan Santos, 41. Debris from the the collision hit a fourth vehicle. Other than the children, no one else was injured, police said.

Fall not end to West Nile threat

The spread of West Nile virus has slowed in Nevada, but it hasn't stopped, and health officials are reminding residents to be careful as they begin to enjoy a balmy fall.

One new case of the mosquito-borne disease was reported in Clark County this week, bringing Southern Nevada's total number of victims to 21, the county Health District reported this morning. Of those, 13 have been confirmed by a federally accredited laboratory in California, while 8 are considered "probable" cases based on preliminary testing.

The statewide total is now at 38, according to reports from the state Health Division and the Washoe County Health Department.

"Mosquito season in Clark County typically lasts until Halloween, give or take a couple days," Clark County Health District spokesman David Tonelli said. "It's especially important to be aware of West Nile virus now that the weather is cooling and people are spending more time outside, especially at dawn and dusk when the mosquitoes are more likely to bite."