Las Vegas driver sentenced in 2020 fatal wrong-way crash on US 95
A Las Vegas man who pleaded guilty to driving intoxicated and causing a deadly wrong-way crash on U.S. Highway 95 in September 2020 was sentenced Friday to at least six years in prison.
Benjamin Ames, 33, was driving about 100 mph and had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit at the time of the crash that killed 58-year-old Susan Teves, prosecutors have said.
He pleaded guilty in December to a felony count of DUI resulting in death, court records show. District Judge Jacqueline Bluth sentenced him Friday to six to 20 years behind bars.
Ames was driving a Hummer the wrong way on the highway near Russell Road about 1:45 a.m. Sept. 11, 2020, when he collided head-on with Teves’ Nissan Sentra, the Nevada Highway Patrol has said.
Susan Teves’ husband cried as he read a note to the judge on Friday morning. Danny Teves said he is haunted by the call asking him to identify his wife’s body.
“Now I feel nervous every time I’m behind the wheel since my wife was taken away from me in that horrible crash,” he said.
Ames, who appeared through a video call, wiped tears from his eyes while listening to Teves speak. Earlier in the hearing, he told the judge that the aftermath of the crash has been a “nightmare.”
“This was a horrible accident, an accident that I’m responsible for,” Ames said.
At the time of the crash, Ames was on probation after pleading guilty in March 2020 to assault with a deadly weapon and battery constituting domestic violence. District Court records show Ames attacked a man on Jan. 2, 2020, at a Las Vegas residence when the man wouldn’t hand over a set of car keys to Ames.
Following the September 2020 crash, Ames’ probation was revoked and he was sentenced to one to four years in prison, court records show.
On Friday, Bluth said she hopes Ames will spend time in prison on the DUI charge to “consider his decisions.”
“I don’t think anybody here thinks Mr. Ames is a bad human. He just made a catastrophic decision that has the most grave consequences,” she said.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter. Review-Journal intern Jimmy Romo contributed to this report.
