Quarantine delays hearing for driver charged in bicyclists’ deaths
An initial court hearing for Jordan Barson, accused of driving while high on methamphetamine when he plowed a box truck into a group of bicyclists, killing five, was postponed Thursday morning.
A week after his arrest in Arizona, Barson was extradited to Las Vegas and was being held in the Clark County Detention Center.
Because of the transfer and the pandemic, jail officials have quarantined Barson. It was unclear how long he would be quarantined, but Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum set another hearing for Wednesday.
Authorities have said Barson had nine times the amount of methamphetamine in his system needed to be legally considered impaired at the time of the Dec. 10 crash on U.S. Highway 95, near Searchlight.
He told police he fell asleep at the wheel.
Barson faces five counts of DUI resulting in death, six counts of reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm, and one count of DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm, court records show.
Las Vegas bicyclists Erin Michelle Ray, 39; Gerrard Suarez Nieva, 41; Michael Todd Murray, 57; Aksoy Ahmet, 48; and Tom Trauger, 57, were killed in the crash. Four others were injured, most seriously Jerome Ducrocq, who was hospitalized in critical condition last week. His condition on Thursday was not known.
The bicyclists were with a group of about 20 who set out from Henderson that morning to complete the roughly 130-mile Nipton Loop. All of the bicyclists who were killed or injured were seeking cover from the wind and riding behind the group’s safety escort vehicle when the box truck hit them, according to a Nevada Highway Patrol report.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.
