By Sally Ho And Ken Ritter The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS One person was killed and six were in critical condition after a car crashed into pedestrians on a sidewalk Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip, police said.
The vehicle was in the northbound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard near Bellagio Way when the vehicle drove up onto the sidewalk about 6:30 p.m. in front of the Paris Hotel & Casino and struck pedestrians, including 37 people who were taken to the hospital, Lt. Peter Boffelli said. One adult was killed, six were in critical condition, 26 injured and four were treated and released, he said.
“This is a huge tragedy that has happened on our Strip,” Boffelli said.
The crash in front of the Paris and Planet Hollywood hotels occurred on a busy stretch of the Las Vegas Strip across from the dancing water fountains of the Bellagio hotel-casino where visitors crowd sidewalks as they was walk from one casino to another. The Miss Universe pageant was being held nearby at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino at the time of the crash.
Las Vegas Police Capt. Brett Zimmerman said at a news conference late Sunday night that while terrorism has been ruled out, the crash appears to be intentional.
The driver apparently drove onto the sidewalk, hitting pedestrians, then went back into the street before driving onto the sidewalk again at a different spot of Las Vegas Boulevard, hitting others, Zimmerman said. Police are reviewing video from casino-hotel surveillance cameras.
“We know this was not an act of terrorism,” he said. “We will comb through that footage to get a detailed idea of what occurred. Right now from what we know, we’re looking at it possibly being intentional.”
A 3-year-old child was in the vehicle but was not hurt, he said. The driver of the car, a woman, also was not hurt, police said.
Lt. Dan McGrath said the 1996 Oldsmobile was not registered to Nevada and the driver had recently moved to the area.
After the crash, the vehicle continued to drive east on Flamingo Road before it was found at a hotel, McGrath said. The woman was taken into custody by police and detectives were investigating whether she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol
The pedestrians were not in the road and were not at fault, McGrath said.
Clark County Fire Chief Greg Cassell said the call for help came in at 6:38 p.m. and 70 emergency crew workers were sent to the scene.
Joel Ortega, 31, of Redlands, California, said he and his wife, Carla, were in Las Vegas for the weekend and found themselves blocked from walking on the sidewalk toward the Paris Hotel & Casino. They could see police investigating ab0out a block away from the scene of the crash.
“At first, I thought it was a movie shoot,” Joel Ortega said, “I thought maybe we’d see someone famous.”
But then they learned that it was a crash scene. Joel Ortega said it made them remember how their neighbourhood was disrupted after the Dec. 2 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, near their home.
Those in critical condition are being treated at University Medical Center, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Spring Valley Hospital.
Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center spokeswoman Stacy Acquista said 11 adults were in good condition as of 9 p.m. Danita Cohen, spokeswoman for University Medical Center, said 11 crash victims were brought to its trauma centre. As of 10 p.m., one person had been discharged but three remained in critical condition, she said.
Cohen said the victims’ injuries included head injuries, cuts and broken bones. Some of the victims are from Montreal, Canada, and were in need of French translators at University Medical Center, she said.
Three people are in critical condition at Spring Valley.
On Oct. 24, a woman was accused of driving into a crowd during Oklahoma State’s homecoming parade in Stillwater. Four people were killed, including a 2-year-old boy, and more than 40 were hurt. The driver, 25-year-old Adacia Chambers of Stillwater, was this month found competent to stand trial on four counts of second-degree murder and 46 counts of assault.
