DUI suspect in deadly Las Vegas crash was traveling ‘well above’ speed limit, police say
A DUI suspect drove over a median and into oncoming traffic, causing a fatal two-car crash that killed the other motorist, the Metropolitan Police Department alleged in an arrest report.
Police accused Juan Francisco De Leon, 23, of speeding “well above” the 45 mph limit on Buffalo Drive and Peacock Avenue when the crash occurred at 10:38 p.m. Sunday.
The victim died at University Medical Center, while De Leon was booked into the Clark County Detention on felony counts of DUI and reckless driving.
The Clark County coroner’s office identified the victim as Adolph Weiss, 78.
The deadly collision was reported by an eyewitness who told police that De Leon’s Honda Accord was going “near” 100 mph, the report said.
Police said the crash trapped both drivers inside their cars.
The Honda was southbound when its driver “failed to negotiate” the curbed road at Peacock, wrote police, citing a preliminary investigation.
The motorist then struck the raised median “at a high rate of speed” into northbound traffic, hitting Weiss’s Hyundai Sonata police said.
It wasn’t clear from the arrest report if investigators were able to confirm the Honda’s exact speed.
De Leon also was taken to University Medical Center, where he displayed watery eyes and a “faint odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage,” police said.
Police said they drew blood samples but didn’t present those results in the report.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
