Bus stop fatal called tragic, simple case

By Matt Pordum

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005 | 9:25 a.m.

A prosecutor told a jury the case of a man charged with driving a pickup truck into a Las Vegas bus stop in May 2004 is "very, very tragic and very, very simple."

As he delivered opening arguments on Monday, Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson said the tragic part is 4-year-old Angel Avendano was killed and his mother, Eulogia Avendano, was injured.

Nelson said the "simple part is the evidence of guilt is overwhelming" because the driver of the truck, 32-year-old Nicolas Serrano-Villagrana, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.20 percent -- 2.5 times the legal limit in Nevada -- and he had cocaine in his system at the time of the crash on Eastern Avenue near U.S. 95.

Serrano-Villagrana is facing one felony charge of drunken driving with death and two counts of felony DUI with substantial bodily harm for the injuries of Eulogia Avendano and a second woman, Nijaila Altitijka Graves, 21, who was also waiting at the bus stop and suffered moderate injuries.

Nelson was prepared to drop the charge relating to Graves because he couldn't locate her, but he said he was able to track her down on Friday evening to make sure she would testify.

Serrano-Villagrana's attorney, Philip Singer, said not one witness for the prosecution would be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Serrano-Villagrana was the driver of the truck. He said the evidence will show the "prosecutor's witnesses are severely mistaken, either mistaken or lying."

He said in this case "actions speak louder than words": Serrano-Villagrana stayed at the scene and waited for the police while the actual driver of the truck ran away from the scene and was never caught by police.

On Monday, the prosecution's key eyewitness, Celia Ortiz, testified she was driving along Eastern Avenue with her husband and two children when they witnessed a red truck "zig-zagging on the street."

Ortiz said after witnessing the crash, her husband slowed down the car and she leapt out and started running to the scene. She said as she ran by the driver's side door of the truck she stopped for between five and 10 seconds and "screamed foul language at the occupants."

She said the person behind the steering wheel was a man with a mustache wearing a white cowboy hat and white shirt. That description matched photos taken of Serrano-Villagrana at the time of his arrest that day.

Ortiz said after seeing Graves had hurt her leg, she turned to see Angel Avendano with "his foot destroyed and head open." He appeared to be dead, she said.

She said she then saw Serrano-Villagrana telling the crowd of people that had formed at the scene of the crash, "I was not driving, please do me a favor."

Under Singer's questioning, the subject of whether the driver of the vehicle was white or Hispanic became an issue. In her statements to police and in her testimony at the preliminary hearing and in court Monday, Ortiz said the driver of the vehicle was white.

Singer asked Ortiz how she could say Serrano-Villagrana, who is a Mexican citizen, was the white driver of the truck. She said since Serrano-Villagrana was not black or brown-skinned she referred to him as white.

The preliminary hearing testimony of Gabriella Solis, who lives about 9 feet across the street from the scene of the crash, was read into the record on Monday because she was not available to testify.

Solis said Serrano-Villagrana was the driver and removed beer from the vehicle as he exited the truck. She did, however, testify that although she was wearing her glasses in court she did not have them on when she witnessed the crash.

Graves, who limped toward the witness stand, testified Monday she remembered one of the two people in the truck had on a white cowboy hat and white shirt, but couldn't identify Serrano-Villagrana as being the driver.

"I'm not sure he (Serrano-Villagrana) was the driver of the truck because it was such a blur, it happened so fast," Graves testified.

Graves said she required stitches on her right shin, can no longer run and is forced to walk with a limp due to injuries she sustained from the car crash. She said she also suffers back and neck problems.

Serrano-Villagrana faces a maximum of four to 40 years in prison if convicted.

Eulogia Avendano, the mother of the boy who was killed, was expected to testify this morning.