News briefs for May 19, 2005

Thursday, May 19, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.

Boy hit while on bicycle dies

A 6-year-old bicycle rider who was hit Tuesday night by a pickup truck while crossing Sahara Avenue against a red light died Wednesday, authorities said.

Christopher Melgarejo of Las Vegas was riding a bike to McDonald's with his two older brothers, believed to be about 7 and 11, when he was struck by a Chevrolet Silverado pickup about 8:30 a.m.

Metro Police Detective Doug Nutton said Christopher's family was gathered at his grandmother's house near Sahara Avenue and Teddy Drive when the boys might have slipped out. It's not clear if the adults knew the kids had left the house, he said. Police are investigating.

Police said the driver of the pickup, Jeff Struckman, 32, of Henderson is not at fault because the boy went through a red light when he was hit.

Man injured in collision with bus

A 37-year-old Henderson man was seriously injured Wednesday evening when he drove into the back of a CAT bus on Sahara Avenue near Sloan Lane, Metro Police said.

Andrew Shannon was heading east on Sahara in a 2000 Chevrolet Blazer about 6:20 p.m. when he hit the back of the bus that had stopped, police said.

Shannon was taken to Sunrise Hospital. Alcohol might have been a factor in the collision, police said.

Driver in fatal crash identified

A driver of a minivan who died Tuesday after he lost control of his vehicle on Buffalo Drive near Cheyenne Avenue has been identified as 66-year-old Romeo Mironchuck of Las Vegas.

He died of heart failure, the coroner's office said. No one was injured in the three-vehicle collision, police said.

Trial ordered in food poisoning case

The Nevada Supreme Court Tuesday ordered a trial in a claim by two families that they suffered E-coli food poisoning from ground beef purchased from Costco in Reno.

The court overturned a ruling by District Judge Steven Kosach, who granted a pre-trial summary judgment in favor of Costco, which was sued by the families of Brenden Whitehead and Blaine Devere.

They claimed the ground beef purchased for two July 1999 outdoor family parties was spoiled. The two families complained that Costco failed to preserve batches of uncooked hamburger in order to allow the families to prove the meat was contaminated.

Costco said its management did not willfully destroy evidence or hinder a proper investigation.

The court said, "Assuming Costco acted improperly, the need to deter future litigants from similar abuses is great."

The court said there were other issues to be decided at trial. It said it must be determined whether the food preparation at the parties eliminated Costco's meat as the cause of the illnesses.

Court upholds murder conviction

The Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the second-degree murder conviction of Larry Darnell Bailey, found guilty of killing a co-worker at a fast food business in Las Vegas in 1995.

Bailey said his conviction should be overturned because the prosecutor, in closing arguments, alluded to the refusal of the defendant to testify. The Supreme Court said the accused has a right not to testify and a reference to his decision during the trial violates his Fifth Amendment rights. However, the court said the comment by the prosecutor "was, at most, an indirect reference to Bailey's refusal to testify." The court also said it concluded that this reference was "harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, given the evidence adduced against Bailey at trial."

Bailey, now 40, was convicted of the strangulation and beating of Sean Wells. He received a sentence of five years to life with possibility of parole.

Officer in fatal shooting ID'd

The Metro Police officer who shot and killed a man who allegedly beat him with his own baton has been identified as Robert J. Chamberlin, who joined the department five years ago.

Chamberlin, 35, fatally shot Leopoldo Tijerina Jr., 24, after the man grabbed the officer's Taser gun and his baton outside the Liborio Market on Lamb Boulevard and Washington Avenue on Sunday.

A coroner's inquest has not yet been scheduled.