Revelers had a slow trip back to California

Monday, Jan. 3, 2005 | 9:43 a.m.

For Las Vegas visitors heading to California on Sunday after the New Year's weekend, traffic slowed to a crawl once motorists neared the state line, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Angie Chavera said.

Drivers leaving Las Vegas inched along between 10 mph and 20 mph for long stretches, Chavera said. The traffic backup stretched for nearly 15 miles north of the Nevada-California border, but there were no accidents reported on that section of the freeway on Sunday, she said.

"I've been out here since 7 a.m.," Chavera said at 4 p.m. on Interstate 15. "We haven't had any issues out here."

The traffic jam had been expected because there were an estimated 220,000 people on the Strip New Year's Eve and 12,000 in downtown Las Vegas, according to Metro Police. Hotels along the Strip were near capacity, with an estimated 270,000-300,000 visitors in town.

The Highway Patrol arrested 79 people for driving under the influence New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, compared with 62 arrests for DUI in 2004, Chavera said.

In addition, troopers arrested four others on felony charges.

Metro arrested a total of 95 people on the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street during the New Year's celebration primarily for fights and disorderly conduct, Sgt. Chris Jones said. Last year Metro arrested 135 people.

The valley's first traffic death of the year recorded by the Highway Patrol was 24-year-old Jeffrey Wade McGregor of North Las Vegas. He drove his 1996 green two-door Honda into a disabled 2000 silver Oldsmobile parked on the shoulder of Interstate 15 at Cheyenne Avenue about 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Chavera said.

Alcohol appeared to have been a factor in the collision, she said.

A Metro motorcycle officer was among the people injured in traffic wrecks during the weekend. Officer David Gilbert remained in serious condition at University Medical Center this morning, police said.

Gilbert was trying to stop a speeding car Saturday night when he was injured in a collision on Flamingo Road near the Strip.

Witnesses told police that about 8 p.m., Gilbert, riding a 2000 Harley Davidson police motorcycle, was heading east on Flamingo near Audrie Street with his emergency lights activated in an attempt to stop a driver.

A 2002 Suzuki Aerio driven by 24-year-old Mark Figueroa of Long Beach, Calif., traveling west on Flamingo, made a left turn into the Bally's parking lot in front of Gilbert and the two vehicles collided, police said.

Gilbert's motorcycle toppled over and Gilbert fell to the ground. Police cited Figueroa for a right-of-way violation.

And even before the long New Year's weekend began in earnest. A motorist was killed, about 5 p.m. Thursday when a truck speeding the wrong way on a southwest Las Vegas road hit his pickup truck, causing a crash that involved three pickup trucks and three cars.

Julio Valdovinos-Manuel, 32, was westbound through the intersection of Hacienda Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard when another pickup truck broadsided his 1995 Ford pickup, police said.

Valdovinos-Manuel died instantly.

The other driver, identified by police as Michael Kopnitsky, 39, of Las Vegas, was taken to University Medical Center with moderate injuries, police said.

Kopnitsky may have suffered from a medical condition, Metro traffic investigators said.

None of the people in the other four vehicles was injured, police said.

Holiday hoopla may have caused a power outage that sent four hotels into brief darkness after the New Year's Eve revelry, Nevada Power Co. spokesman Edgar Patino said.

A breaker at the Valley View substation near Flamingo Road flipped at 12:19 a.m. after some type of airborne debris, possibly balloons or metallic streamers, landed on lines near Flamingo and the Strip.

Once the flow of electricity was interrupted, the breaker opened and blacked out the Barbary Coast, Rio, Palms and Flamingo Hilton. Emergency generators kept all of the hotels operating. Electricity was restored at 1:30 a.m.

Nevada Power crews did not find anything left on nearby lines and the debris probably burned up, Patino said.