Collision claims life of driver who wore no seat belt

David Kihara

Thursday, April 21, 2005 | 11:07 a.m.

A man was killed Wednesday night when the 1996 Ford pickup truck he was driving collided with another vehicle that had sped through a stop sign at Cimarron and Spring Mountain roads, police said.

The impact of the crash ejected the driver of the truck and he suffered fatal injuries, police said. His identity had not been released this morning.

The driver of the other vehicle, Ethel Cathlene Boyd, 51, of Las Vegas, was rushed to University Medical Center, Metro Sgt. Tracy McDonald said.

A hospital spokeswoman said Boyd was in critical condition this morning.

There were a total of five people in the Ford truck, including two children ages 6 and 2, McDonald said. The 2-year-old was properly restrained in a child seat and sustained no injuries, while the 6-year-old suffered a broken collarbone, he said.

The other two occupants of the vehicle -- 39-year-old Luis Martinez and 29-year-old Sebastian Viviani, both of Las Vegas -- suffered minor injuries and were being treated at UMC.

The driver who died apparently had not been wearing a seat belt, McDonald said.

"A seat belt could have helped," he said.

The mother of the two children, who was not in the vehicle at the time of the accident, was reportedly reunited with her children at UMC, authorities said.

Although police could not positively identify the victim because of the extreme nature of his injuries, initial reports were that the man was the father of the children in the pickup truck. McDonald could not confirm the report.

The collision occurred about 7:10 p.m., police said. Boyd was northbound in a 2000 black Mazda Miata convertible and sped past a stop sign, McDonald said.

The westbound pickup truck collided with the Miata, McDonald said. The impact of the collision sent the driver flying through the driver's side door and he slammed his head against his truck, which killed him almost instantly, McDonald said.

"It was a T-bone accident," McDonald said.

Both cars spun out of control upon impact and came to rest on the north side of Spring Mountain road in an undeveloped plot of land.

When police arrived on the scene they found the other adults who had been riding in the pickup truck attempting to resuscitate the victim, but he died at the scene, McDonald said.

Boyd could face minor traffic citations, such as running a stop sign, police said, adding that they could also charge her with a felony if police establish she was driving recklessly.

Maria Castillo, who lives in a home on Cimarron Road several hundred feet from the accident, said that the intersection was becoming increasingly dangerous. Castillo said there was another vehicle accident as recently as Tuesday night at the intersection.

Speaking at the scene of Wednesday night's accident, she said she will call government officials and demand that they install a traffic signal at the intersection.

"There are just way too many accidents here, and it gets to me," she said.

McDonald said the intersection where the accident took place is not on Metro's list of the Top 20 high accident areas, but there are increasingly more vehicle accidents in the area.

"We're seeing more accidents than we would like," McDonald said. "People take more and more risks."

The man's death Wednesday night was the 43rd traffic fatality in Metro's jurisdiction of Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County so far this year, police said.