Homeless man’s stolen car involved in wreck on Rancho

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

Kenneth Miller sat on a sidewalk surrounded by clothing, a bedroll and a knapsack that he pulled from the mangled wreckage of his red car, which he had called home until Monday night.

"C'mon buddy," a Metro Police officer called to a dejected Miller from a black and white patrol car parked on North Rancho Drive near Lake Mead Boulevard, where Miller's stolen car hit three others.

Miller loaded his belongings into the back of the police car and left the half block strewn with three other cars as police investigated the collision, which happened in the southbound lanes of Rancho.

Earlier, while he was watching a house off North Rancho, two men came to the home and picked a fight with him, Miller said.

As he walked away from the fight, the two men hopped into his car with the keys dangling from the ignition and sped away.

"A couple people came to the house and then they stole my car," Miller said as he chucked clothes, a sleeping bag, a backpack and tucked some loose papers into the knapsack from his car.

"And I haven't got insurance."

The two men sped down North Rancho, hitting three other cars including one with two children in it, Metro Police Lt. Chris Carroll said.

Police received a call that a car had been stolen shortly after 7 p.m., Carroll said. Moments later the collision occurred on Rancho.

"We were actually looking for the stolen car and then the accident happened," Carroll said.

The two men in the stolen red car were traveling "at an extremely high rate of speed," Carroll said. Police said they suspect alcohol may have been involved.

Both men from the red car were taken to University Medical Center and one was on a ventilator, Carroll said. Both were listed in serious condition this morning.

Metro traffic investigators closed Rancho Drive from the entrance to the Fiesta Casino to Lake Mead Boulevard for hours after the accident.

Neil and Laurie Miller, no relation to the homeless Miller, had steered their white Mustang for a left turn from Rancho onto Lake Mead Boulevard to go to the Fiesta.

"I saw a woman's car spinning behind us," Laurie Miller, who was driving, said. "I said, 'She's going to hit us.' "

The woman, with two small children in car seats, had been struck half a block north of where she came to rest, Carroll said.

The woman and two children were taken to University Medical Center with minor injuries, police said.

The Millers' Mustang had a broken left rear tail light, but neither of them were injured.

Neil Miller said he helped pull the two crying children, a boy and a girl, from the other victim's silver car as the mother was hysterical.

His wife remained inside the Mustang.

"She's a little burned about her car," he said.

Another car with two women was also hit by the spinning car. The two women were treated at the scene by paramedics.