Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleWoman dies in downtown collision with ambulance
Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009 | 10:18 p.m.
Crash location
A 66-year-old Las Vegas woman died Sunday after the vehicle she was riding in collided with an ambulance in a downtown Las Vegas intersection, Metro Police said.
The ambulance, a 2003 Ford E350, was northbound at 5:13 p.m. on Las Vegas Boulevard in the far left lane, authorities said. A 2005 Pontiac Vibe driven by Ricardo Gutierrez-Jiminez, 52, was eastbound on Bridger Avenue in the left travel lane. The vehicles collided in the intersection, police said.
It wasn't clear Sunday night which vehicle had the right-of-way or whether the ambulance had its sirens activated.
The front of the American Medical Response ambulance struck the side of the Pontiac, authorities said, and both vehicles continued across the intersection, coming to a rest in its northeast corner.
Aida Gutierrez, 63, was a passenger in the front seat of the Pontiac. She was taken to University Medical Center with critical injuries, police said.
A back seat passenger also was taken to UMC, where she was pronounced dead. Her identity will be released by the Clark County Coroner's Office.
Gutierrez-Jiminez and the passenger in the ambulance were taken to UMC with minor injuries.
The identities of the ambulance driver and passenger haven't been released. The driver, police said, was 36 years old and uninjured in the wreck; the passenger was 25.
No charges have been filed but the accident remains under investigation.
This is the 65th fatal traffic accident this year in Metro's jurisdiction.
Discussion: comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.
Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.
No trusted comments have been posted.
Post a comment
Most Popular
- Viewed
- Discussed
- E-mailed
Everything Under the Sun
Blogs
The Kats Report
Clint Holmes is a big deal at Cabaret Jazz and 'The Carlyle!'; Playboy's furry-ous closing; Elvis is a 'Legend'
Joe Pesci remembers his own honeymoon in Vegas -- meeting the Rat Pack (1 Comment)
Las Vegas Philharmonic says search for new music director to begin 'immediately' (1 Comment)
With Shenandoah project stalled, Wayne Newton hits back legally (7 Comments)
Where does a Playmate play when she turns 21? Vegas! (3 Comments)
Ice Ice Billy
The road to six-toed cats and Mayor Bubba
The Kats Report
David Itkin tells L.V. Philharmonic officials he's on his way out (14 Comments)
- Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism
Approaching Las Vegas Blvd. from Bridger eastbound, you'd likely not be able to see oncoming traffic until you actually enter the intersection, due to the limited visibility caused by the buildings on the north/south corners. If, as the story states, the ambulance was in the far LEFT lane, it's likely the driver of the car never knew what hit him.
Sirens. They are loud. You hear them before you see the lights.
Driven through that intersection many times; that intersectioni has no buildings blocking the view of traffic going both north and south on Las Vegas Blvd.
DetMunch,
There's a HUGE Federal building on the south side, and a large Bank building on the north.
Perhaps you are thinking westbound.
Yes, sirens are loud. Cars today are more soundproof than ever, & the ambulance was traveling in the LEFT LANE of traffic, opposite of the norm, likely skirting around traffic on the Blvd. as it traveled northbound.
As a paramedic and former employee of AMR I can tell you emergency vehicles are required by law to drive with "due regard" for other drivers. All collisions are avoidable (except as dhvincent states the driver of the car ran the red). Unfortunately, my sources states, this ambulance ran the red light.
AMR's policy is to make a complete stop at all red lights and stop signs while driving "code-3" (lights/siren). EMTs and paramedics are taught that safety is priority #1 and that no emergency is worth killing yourself or another person over.
The people in this town have no reguard to the emergency vehicals what so ever!hardly anyone pulls over for them,and if they do,they rush right back into traffic to follow them close behind!And that statment go s more so to the taxi cabs!!!
Maybe they could hear it. What they need is a jammier that silence the tubas and accordions on the car stereo.
what a way to go you live 62 years and get hit buy paramedic
"Maybe they could hear it. What they need is a jammier that silence the tubas and accordions on the car stereo."
Meaning?