Man who caused, died in Las Vegas crash that killed 3 others ID’d
The Clark County coroner’s office identified the man who caused a seven-vehicle crash last week that also killed three other people, including a 4-year-old girl.
He was 38-year-old Tacuma Wesley, the Clark County coroner’s office said Tuesday. Las Vegas police previously said he was 39. His cause and manner of death were pending Tuesday afternoon, the coroner’s office said.
Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to the fiery crash about 5:30 p.m. Thursday after Wesley was driving east on Desert Inn Road at an “excessive rate of speed,” approaching Durango Drive.
Police said Wesley was driving a 2016 Mazda 6 when he hit the center median west of the intersection. He then rear-ended a 2017 Dodge Journey with five people inside, including the three other people who died in the crash — three generations of women.
The family members who died had been identified Friday through a GoFundMe page as Donna Martinez, 48, and the woman’s daughter and granddaughter: 29-year-old Amanda Martinez and 4-year-old Layla Martinez-White.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the coroner’s office confirmed the three family members’ identities, but their cause and manner of death were still pending.
The force of the crash pushed the Dodge into the intersection, and five other vehicles were damaged, police said. The Dodge and Mazda caught fire, along with a 2007 Audi A3.
A 17-year-old boy and another girl in the Dodge were taken to University Medical Center after the crash in critical condition, police have said. No one else involved in the crash was injured.
The GoFundMe page was created by Melinda Chacon, who wrote that she is a cousin of Donna Martinez. Previous attempts by the Review-Journal to reach Chacon were not immediately successful, but the page was shared with the Review-Journal by a GoFundMe spokesperson.
As of Tuesday afternoon the page had raised more than $39,300 for funeral costs.
Chacon wrote that Donna Martinez’s son, Emilio Martinez, 17, and another granddaughter, Destiny Martinez-White, 10, were also in the vehicle and were injured. Both were in the hospital with “broken bones and severe burns,” she wrote.
Metro Capt. Jason Letkiewicz said Thursday that witnesses helped those in the Dodge and were able to pull the two surviving minors out of the car.
“So instead of five people dead in that vehicle, there were only three because people were brave enough to move forth and pull those people out of that vehicle,” he said Thursday night.
Jeremiah White, 31 , told the Review-Journal last week that Layla and Destiny were his children — two of the three he had with Amanda Martinez. He said the family was traveling to pick up a relative from work when the crash happened. White also confirmed the details posted to the GoFundMe.
Destiny and Layla were “two of a kind,” acted like twins and often wore matching clothes, he said. He described Layla as an “outstanding” and “wonderful little girl,” and said Destiny is a “goofball at heart.”
“My head’s just blank on everything,” White said.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.