Suspect in fatal NLV hit-and-run only pulled over after car stopped working, police say
A hit-and-run suspect accused in a crash that killed a pedestrian in North Las Vegas early Saturday was speeding and only pulled over after his car stopped working, police allege in an arrest report.
Donald William Boike, 24, told North Las Vegas police that his car — which had a shattered windshield — kept turning off until it completely shut off about a half-mile away from the crash site, which was reported shortly after midnight at North Fifth Street near Brooks Avenue, the report said.
The pedestrian was walking on the road outside the crosswalk. However, driving away from the site of a fatal crash is a felony offense, the North Las Vegas Police Department said.
According to the arrest report, Boike told investigators that the pedestrian had jumped in front of his Dodge Charger “without allowing him time to react,” but he also said he didn’t know what he had struck.
Attorney Robert Draskovich told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the crash had left his client shaken. Boike also told police that he had driven away because he had panicked, the report said.
Police said Boike did not appear impaired, but drew blood “out of an abundance of caution.” Those results weren’t immediately available publicly.
But Draskovich said he’s “very confident” the results will come back negative for alcohol or drugs and noted that investigators were probing whether the pedestrian “was sitting or laying in the middle of the road after dark.”
While Boike said he was traveling at the speed limit, police alleged that the car’s damage made it “apparent speed was a factor,” the report said.
Boike was hospitalized with minor injuries and then booked into the North Las Vegas Community Correctional Center, police said. The attorney said Boike has since posted bail.
The Clark County coroner’s office hadn’t identified the pedestrian as of Tuesday.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
