More pedestrians die in weekend crashes on Las Vegas Valley roads

Two pedestrians were killed in separate crashes on opposite sides of the Las Vegas Valley on Sunday morning, and another was critically injured in a hit-and-run crash in the northeast valley after an SUV drove onto the sidewalk, police said.

In the first incident, at about 3:50 a.m., a 71-year-old man was killed after he was struck by an SUV while crossing a street — outside of a marked crosswalk, police said — in Henderson.

In the second, a hit-and-run, police said a man was hit by a car just after 5 a.m. near the 215 Beltway in Summerlin.

In the third incident, another hit-and-run that left a 29-year-old man with life-threatening injuries, police were looking for the driver Sunday evening after finding a vehicle believed to have been involved in the crash near North Nellis Boulevard and East Craig Road.

Even though the Summerlin fatality was being investigated by the Nevada Highway Patrol, and the Henderson crash was being investigated by that city’s police department, the incidents underscore what Metropolitan Police Department statistics show is a 116.7 percent rise in pedestrian fatalities over the first approximately three and a half months of 2024 in Metro’s jurisdiction.

According to Metro’s most recently published stats, posted on the department’s website, 26 pedestrian fatalities have occurred between Jan. 1 and April 19, compared with 12 pedestrian fatalities over the same period last year.

Spate of hit-and-runs

Hit-and-run deaths have risen 120 percent in Metro’s jurisdiction, with 11 fatalities compared to five over the same time span in 2023.

In the Summerlin hit-and-run, police were asking for the public’s help in finding the driver involved in the crash. Police said the vehicle involved was a 2017 to 2021 Honda sedan, its color unknown, that would have damage to its right front end.

Police said a man was hit by the car at about 5:05 a.m. Sunday in a separating area near the 215 Beltway’s Summerlin Parkway northbound off-ramp and the 215’s Far Hills Avenue northbound on-ramp, according to a news release from the Nevada Highway Patrol.

In Henderson, according to a news release issued Sunday by the Henderson Police Department, the man, who was in a wheelchair, was crossing Lake Mead Parkway to the north when a westbound gray Toyota SUV approaching Cornelius Kelly Avenue struck him.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and police said that neither speed nor impairment appear to be factors in the crash, with police noting that the man in the wheelchair was not crossing at a marked crosswalk.

“The driver of the SUV remained at the scene and was cooperative with investigators,” the Henderson police press release said.

In northeast Las Vegas, according to Metro, another man was walking south on the west sidewalk on Nellis south of Craig at about 7:50 a.m. when a southbound white 2008 Chevrolet Equinox drove up onto the sidewalk and struck him.

The Equinox immediately fled, police said.

The pedestrian was taken to University Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, police said.

Police later found the Equinox but the driver still hadn’t been located when police issued the news release late Sunday afternoon.

Neither the names of the two people killed, nor the critically injured pedestrian, had been released Sunday. The Clark County coroner’s office was expected to release their names later.

Anyone with information in the northeast Las Vegas hit-and-run is urged to call Metro’s collision investigation section at 702-828-3595.

In the Summerlin incident, anyone with information is urged to call the Nevada Highway Patrol at 702-486-4100 or NHP’s Multidisciplinary Investigation and Reconstruction Team at 702-432-5392.

Tipsters with information about either the Summerlin or northeast Las Vegas hit-and-runs can also provide information anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555, to crimestoppersofnv.com, or by using the P3 app.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.