Video shows NHP troopers speculating about cause of Kenny Lee crash
Troopers who responded to the crash that killed Kenny Lee knew within moments the case would be a high-profile investigation, according to body camera footage released by Nevada State Police.
“Maybe sampling some product, I don’t know,” one officer said to a group of troopers as they stood on U.S. Highway 95 just after noon on Nov. 19, 2021.
A report released more than a year after the crash showed Lee had nearly three times the legal blood alcohol limit in his system when he drove a white van that morning on the wrong side of the road, crashing into a truck and trailer. Lee was not wearing a seatbelt and died in the crash.
Lee was the CEO of Lee’s Discount Liquor after his father, Hae Un Lee, died of cancer three months earlier.
Kenny Lee had a tire problem the night before the crash, and a trooper at the scene on Nov. 19 said he helped tow the van to West Wendover, where Lee was dropping off supplies.
“I think he was asleep,” one trooper speculated at the scene.
In the just over three hours of body-camera video, troopers walked back and forth along the extensive crash site, taking photos of the vehicles and examining Lee’s tires.
The footage showed the white van had small Lee’s Liquor insignias on the back corners, and boxes of Don Julio 1942 tequila bottles stacked to the top of the van and shattered in the roadway. A bottle of the luxury tequila sells for $399 on the Lee’s Liquor website.
“It reeks of freaking, you know,” an officer said, gesturing at the shattered glass.
Two officers looked at the vehicle in which John Mears and his coworker from Pathfinder Minerals LLC, who was driving, were traveling and noted that the two were not injured in the crash.
“For them to stop right side up is pretty impressive,” one officer said.
“And for them to walk away uninjured,” another trooper added.
Troopers discuss the person who was driving the van, but the conversation is muted in audio released to the Review-Journal. One officer said the case “might be high profile” and another called in a Highway Patrol captain.
The troopers were not immediately identified.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
