Man run over while sleeping in downtown Las Vegas lot ID’d
A man who authorities believe was run over and killed by a vehicle while sleeping in a vacant lot has been identified as Stephen Bethel.
The Clark County coroner’s office said Bethel, 62, died of blunt force trauma. The manner of death is accidental. No hometown was listed for Bethel.
Metropolitan police said they found Bethel’s body on the morning of Oct. 12 in a desert lot in the Arts District on 710 S. Casino Center Blvd., near Bonneville Avenue, covered in a blue tarp.
An investigation showed that at about 9:30 p.m. the night prior, a light-colored extended-cab pickup truck towing a Las Vegas Pride Night parade float on a flatbed drove onto the lot. The people in the truck removed decorations from the trailer and put them in the bed of the pickup before driving away.
Detectives determined Bethel was sleeping under the tarp the night prior. However, police did not say at the time whether they believed the truck struck Bethel or if it was possible that another vehicle drove onto the lot and struck the man.
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@review-journal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.