Man who killed 3 in notorious Henderson crash arrested again on suspicion of DUI

A former College of Southern Nevada baseball coach who was convicted as a juvenile in a high-profile 2003 DUI crash in Henderson that killed three teens was found guilty last month in another DUI crash.

Just weeks later, Sean Larimer was back in custody yet again after Henderson police arrested him Monday on suspicion of DUI.

Larimer was taken into custody after officers responded to a call at 6:20 p.m. in the 12000 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South, following a car crash on private property, according to the Henderson Police Department’s public information office.

The 36-year-old was booked Monday into the Henderson Detention Center on suspicion of DUI and driving with a license revoked due to a DUI arrest, was released on Tuesday and is set to appear for a June 12 arraignment hearing, court records show.

Larimer was an assistant coach for the CSN Coyotes baseball team for nine years before leaving the program after the 2020-21 season. He had also served as an undergraduate assistant baseball coach at UNLV in 2010 and coached the Green Valley High School team from 2007 to 2012 before leaving for CSN in 2013, according to junior college team’s website.

At CSN, he served as recruiting coordinator, coached outfielders and infielders, and helped lead the team to several championships and a trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series in 2017. During his tenure with the team, the program was ranked second in the country, according to the team website.

He was well-known in college baseball circles for coaching CSN’s team in the 2010 season when star player Bryce Harper, later an MLB star with the Washington Nationals and with the Philadelphia Phillies, set a team-record 31 home runs, and for his mentoring of and friendship with Matty Cutler, a team manager who has Down syndrome.

Back in court Thursday

Before Monday’s arrest, Larimer had been found guilty of misdemeanor DUI in Justice Court on Dec. 28, was given a 30-day suspended jail sentence, required to attend DUI traffic school and a victim’s impact panel, serve 46 hours of community service and two days in jail with two days of credit served, according to court records.

The judge also made him submit to an alcohol use evaluation, install a breath ignition interlock device in his vehicle — to prevent him from driving if he consumes alcohol — for 185 days, and pay $685 in court fees. If he is arrested again for DUI or cited for driving with a suspended or revoked license during the case, he could get 180 days in jail, court records show.

Larimer is due back in court on Thursday for a status check on his progress, according to court records.

His prior legal woes, which started with his arrest after a November 2003 fatal crash and extended into 2004, sparked much debate in the Las Vegas Valley about how the justice system handled major crimes committed by juveniles versus adults, accorting to stories published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the time.

Deadly 2003 crash

On Nov. 10, 2003, Larimer, then 15, and his friends Travis Dunning, Josh Perry, Kyle Poff and Cody Fredericks, all 15 and all from Henderson, were given 30 containers of beer bought at a 7-Eleven store by Pierre Boujon, who was 20.

Larimer later drove his vehicle 80 mph in a 25 mph zone on Silver Springs Parkway and into a wall in a Henderson neighborhood, killing Dunning, Perry and Poff and injuring Fredericks.

Larimer’s blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.19 percent, more than double the legal limit in Nevada.

Clark County prosecutors, led by then-District Attorney David Roger, initially sought to charge Larimer as an adult, meaning he faced from eight to 20 years in state prison.

Amid the discussions in the valley about trying him as an adult, two women, Monica Guinn, the daughter-in-law of then-Gov. Kenny Guinn, and Delise Sartini, a member of the Sartini gaming family, argued against sending him to a prison with adults, where he might not have a chance at reforming himself.

“They will just be taking another life and throwing it away,” Sartini said at the time.

In juvenile court in February 2004, Larimer pleaded guilty to four counts each of felony drunken driving and reckless driving and later accepted a plea agreement that called for him to be sentenced to two years in juvenile jail without early release, be on probation until he was 21 and to not be allowed to apply for a driver’s license or learner’s permit until he reached 21.

He also was required to work 600 hours of community service by speaking to local teenagers about what he had to endure for his crimes.

He also had to provide an undisclosed amount of financial compensation the victims’ families and if he failed to meet what was required in the plea deal, prosecutors could try him again as an adult.

Police determined that prior to the crash, the boys had attended a party at a teen’s house in Henderson with as many as 50 juveniles and were not wearing safety belts while in the vehicle.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X.