‘He can’t be on the road’: Prosecutor asks for $1M bail for suspect in deadly crash

A DUI suspect accused in a Henderson crash that killed a woman and her two young children had double the blood alcohol level allowed to legally drive hours after the collision, a Clark County prosecutor said in court Thursday.

During an arraignment hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Tracy Hibbetts argued that Darryl Smith’s bail should be increased to $1 million.

“He can’t be on the road,” Hibbetts told Henderson Pro-Tem Justice of the Peace Kam Brian. “This is not just one, but there are three deaths, we have a mother and her two children who died in this car crash.”

Wearing orange jail garb, Smith, 36, pleaded not guilty, while Brian scheduled a hearing to discuss bail Wednesday.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 17.

Meanwhile, Brian added guardrails to Smith’s bail of $255,000 that would require the suspect to not drive or consume anything that can impair him “regardless of whether or not he’s driving.”

Brian said Smith’s bail was already higher than normal, adding: “Justifiably so, the results of this case are tragic.”

Rebecca Post, 38, Achilles Quintanilla, 6, and Leo Post-Quintanilla, 5, were killed in the Sunday evening crash at Lake Mead Parkway and Grand Cadence Drive.

The victims were in a Hyundai car stopped at a red light when Smith’s Dodge pickup hit them from behind, causing a four-vehicle pileup, according to Henderson police.

Smith and two people in a BMW SUV were hospitalized with injuries not deemed life-threatening, police said.

A paramedic reported that the suspect “stumbled out, appeared intoxicated” and said he had three glasses of wine and cough syrup when asked if he had been drinking, according to Smith’s arrest report.

“Speed and impairment are considered to be contributing factors in this tragic incident,” Henderson police Deputy Chief Jonathan Boucher told reporters Monday from the scene of the crash.

After he was medically cleared, Smith was booked into the Henderson Detention Center on counts of DUI and reckless driving with death or substantial bodily harm, records show.

Hibbetts said that the victims’ California family members were in town to “celebrate the vow renewals of the victim.”

The prosecutor noted Achilles would have turned 7 next month.

After the hearing, a man who was only identified as Post’s partner, confronted and cursed at a family member of Smith’s who also showed up at the hearing.

The man, who was screaming, was held back by family outside the courtroom. Escorted by officers, the man then rushed outside where police chased him, shocked him with a stun gun, took him down and put him in handcuffs.

It wasn’t clear if he was being arrested. Other family members declined to comment further.

Hundreds of people attended a vigil Wednesday night to honor the victims.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.