Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Police: Man arrested after car smashes into restaurant says he ‘blacked out’

Egg and I Accident

Steve Marcus

Firefighters pack up their gear after making rescues at the Egg and I restaurant on West Sahara Avenue Monday April 1, 2013. As many as 10 people were injured when a Lexus sedan left the roadway and crashed into the restaurant.

Updated Tuesday, April 2, 2013 | 11:48 a.m.

Car Crashes into Egg and I

A woman is loaded into an ambulance outside the Egg and I restaurant on West Sahara Avenue Monday April 1, 2013. As many as 10 people were injured when a Lexus sedan left the roadway and crashed into the restaurant. Launch slideshow »
Click to enlarge photo

Gage Lindsey

A Las Vegas man accused of driving his car into a crowd of lunchtime diners at The Egg and I restaurant on Monday said he “blacked out,” according to a Metro Police report released today.

A witness interviewed by the Sun at the scene said the driver told him all he did "was one Xanax," and the police report notes that witnesses saw the man trying to discard a pill he claimed was Xanax.

Ten people suffered serious injuries when a Lexus sedan crashed into the restaurant at 4533 W. Sahara Ave., landing on three adults and a child on an outdoor patio and smashing through a window, authorities said.

Gage Lindsey, 18, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on counts of DUI-drugs resulting in substantial bodily harm, felony reckless driving and felony hit and run, according to the police report.

Deon Para, who was eating at a restaurant across the street and rushed to help, said he talked to the driver after the man had been handcuffed by police.

“I blacked out, bro,” Para quoted the handcuffed man as saying.

“You blacked out because you were on drugs,” Para recalled replying, though he did not explain what made him suspect the man might have been taking drugs.

“All I did was one Xanax,” the man said, according to Para.

According to the police report, witnesses said they saw Lindsey attempting to discard a pill he claimed was Xanax.

Police took blood and urine samples but did not specify when the results would be available.

Para said that when he got to The Egg and I, people were trying to lift the car off the injured, but it was too heavy.

He said he tried to comfort a boy whose grandmother was unconscious. The boy had blood on him but did not seem to have any serious injuries, he said.

Not long after, a man came running around the corner and asked if anyone was hurt.

“Everyone’s hurt,” Para said.

That’s when other people identified the man as the driver of the car and tackled him to the ground, Para said.

Lindsey claimed he wasn’t trying to flee when he ran but was trying to avoid a confrontation, police said. Lindsey was disoriented during questioning and didn’t know the time of day or the day of the week, the police report said.

A passenger in the car, David Roldan, 21, also was detained, but he was not arrested, police said.

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