Racing, wet street lead to death

Eric Leake and Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005 | 11:15 a.m.

A 23-year-old Las Vegas man died Tuesday night after he crashed his car into another while racing on the city's rain-slicked streets, Metro Police said.

It was one of two collisions that occurred about the same time, with the rain a factor in both, police said.

Metro Sgt. Tracy McDonald said the man who died was racing another driver from Buffalo Drive east along Desert Inn Road shortly after 10 p.m.

When the two racers came up behind a slower vehicle, they split to pass it on both sides, McDonald said, with the one driver passing on the inside lane. One of the racers lost control of his speeding Nissan on the wet road and veered into oncoming traffic.

The 2004 Nissan collided with a 1993 Ford Thunderbird just past Tenaya Way. The exact model of the Nissan was unavailable this morning because it was rendered unrecognizable by the head-on collision, police said.

The driver of the Nissan was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from his car onto the street where he was hit by a Ford Escort.

He was the 13th person to die in traffic this year in Las Vegas or unincorporated Clark County, police said. The dead man's name had not been released by authorities this morning.

The driver of the Thunderbird, 43-year-old Marco Barragan, also was not wearing a seat belt. He suffered suffered minor injuries and was taken to University Medical Center, McDonald said. The Escort's driver, Jack Jewell, 47, was not injured.

Corey Fisher, the 21-year-old driver of the second speeding car, a 2004 Honda Civic, returned to the site of the collision and could face charges, McDonald said. The speed of the cars had not been determined this morning.

The other serious traffic crash Tuesday night was not related to racing but did involve alleged car thieves fleeing from authorities, police said. Two North Las Vegas men were arrested at Washington Avenue and Virgil Street after the 1996 Saturn they are believed to have stolen slammed into a block wall as the pair tried to evade police.

Gilberto Landeros, 26, and Jose Ruano, 18, were taken to University Medical Center after the crash. They swerved into the wall after officers laid spike strips on the street to try to disable the stolen car, he said.

Landeros remained in moderate condition this morning at UMC while Ruano was in serious condition, authorities said.