Man arrested in Halloween death failed sobriety tests

A 41-year-old man who was arrested on a felony DUI charge after a 12-year-old girl was hit Monday night in Summerlin failed several field sobriety tests, but he also registered under the legal limit in a breath test that was taken nearly three hours after the crash.

According to a Las Vegas police report obtained Thursday, Justin Caramanica spoke in an excited and confused state and could not explain to an officer why he was traveling at a high rate of speed Halloween night. The report said he also had slurred speech, glassy eyes and dilated pupils.

Faith Love, who was trick-or-treating that night, died after being struck by Caramanica's vehicle about 8:20 p.m. at Sandstone Bluffs Drive and Wesley Lake Place in Summerlin.

The report said Caramanica was given several field sobriety tests and performed "unsatisfactorily" on every one. On one test, he failed to touch heel to toe and stepped off the line he was made to walk. On another test, Caramanica was unable to stand on one leg and count past four. When he did the same test a second time, he was able to count to seven before he dropped the leg he was holding up.

At 9:42 p.m., Caramanica was placed under arrest. The report said he told the officer he preferred to take a blood test.

At 10:50 p.m., Caramanica was given a blood draw at the Clark County Detention Center. He was given a breath test at 11:14 p.m., nearly three hours after the collision.

According to the report, Caramanica blew a 0.068 and 0.067 on the breath tests, under the legal limit of 0.08.

An officer at the county jail, who is a drug recognition expert, concluded that Caramanica was under the influence of alcohol and a prescription drug, the report said.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@review
journal.com or 702-383-4638.