‘You broke our family’: Woman sentenced for Las Vegas crash that killed teen, stepfather

Amber Reedy slowly stood up from her wheelchair, her hands shaking as she held a microphone to address the woman who killed her husband and 14-year-old son in a DUI crash.

“You have no idea how upset I am,” Reedy said, her voice shaking as she carefully stood and addressed the courtroom during Cynthia Phelps’ sentencing hearing.

Reedy was severely injured in the crash on April 17 that killed her son, Erik McPherson, and his stepfather, 42-year-old Robert Higgins. The family was standing on the sidewalk near a bus stop on Boulder Highway when Phelps, 64, crashed into them.

Phelps told police she thought she had a seizure and couldn’t remember the crash. She was also accused of driving while intoxicated and accelerating about 20 mph over the 45 mph speed limit. Police said she was driving the wrong way down the road, and did not try to brake before crashing onto the sidewalk.

“If you are prone to seizures, why are you drinking twice the legal limit and getting behind a wheel?” District Judge Ronald Israel said Monday. “It just makes no sense.”

Israel sentenced Phelps to between 15 and 60 years in prison on two counts of DUI resulting in death, and one count of DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm. He also ordered her to pay more than $7,600 in restitution.

Phelps stood quietly throughout the sentencing hearing. Her public defender, Michael Yohay, read a statement to the judge that Phelps had written.

“I’m deeply sympathetic and remorseful towards all involved,” Yohay read from Phelps’ statement. “I also suffered from this incident, but not nearly as bad as the victims. It was a misjudgement on my behalf.”

Yohay argued that Phelps has no criminal history and that her life “started going downhill” after her husband died. He said that Phelps has a seizure disorder, but did have alcohol in her system at the time of the crash. He said Phelps is aware she could realistically spend the rest of her life in prison.

“That is a conversation we’ve had and she’s accepted, based on her actions,” Yohay said.

He argued for the judge to order Phelps to serve her sentence on the three separate charges at the same time, but the judge said that each individual count should be served separately, to reflect the individual killed or injured in the crash.

Deputy District Attorney Yu Meng said that DUI cases should be “preventable” because of taxis and ride-shares.

“I make this argument almost every single day it seems like, but it doesn’t seem to reach the public,” he said.

Amber Reedy suffered a broken pelvis and several skull fractures in the crash, her family previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She told the judge Monday that she missed the funerals for her son and husband because she was in a coma after the crash.

Meng argued that Reedy is now “unrecognizable” from the person she was before the crash.

Reedy’s other children, 12-year-old Isabella McPherson and 9-year-old Roman Ferris, stood up with their grandfather to address the court on Monday. Isabella McPherson said she couldn’t properly explain her heartbreak over the death of her 14-year-old brother.

“You broke our family really badly,” she said.

Both Isabella McPherson and Roman Ferris were also injured in the crash, and each suffered broken bones.

Reedy’s father, Frank Walklin, said he hoped for Phelps to remain in prison until her death. His voice shook with emotion when he told the judge he would never be able to teach his grandson how to drive.

“She took my grandson from me,” he said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.