Las Vegas, NV : 19-year-old charged in deadly crash along Summerlin Parkway Sunday morning, November 2, 2014
A 19-year-old Las Vegas man is under arrest in connection with the deadly crash along Summerlin Parkway Sunday morning.
Marcelo Zavala, Jr. is being charged with DUI with death, involuntary manslaughter, DUI with substantial bodily harm, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving without a valid driver's license and unsafe lane change.
Zavala was driving eastbound on the parkway just east of the Buffalo Drive exit at around 5 a.m. Sunday when Nevada Highway Patrol say he made an unsafe lane change. The unsafe maneuver caused him to lose control of the Chevrolet Tahoe he was driving.
The SUV hit another SUV traveling behind him, sending it into a nearby guardrail. The Tahoe then flipped over, landing on its roof.
A passenger in Zavala's SUV was thrown from the vehicle when it overturned. He was killed. The Clark County Coroner's Office identified him as Steven Alexander Salas-Limon, 19, of Las Vegas.
Four other people were taken to the hospital, including the driver. Zavala and a passenger admitted they had been at a party drinking and smoking marijuana before the crash. Zavala did tell police that he only had one beer at the party. He had decided to drive because everyone else was too drunk or too high to drive.
The president of Stop DUI Tim Babcock says a series of bad choices affected a lot of lives in this crash.
"I think a lot of it relies on the other people in the vehicle with him. a little bit of peer pressure, maybe they should have know what would have happened to them," Babcock said, "All of them should be thinking to each other, what could I have done, to prevent this, and all of them could have done something, every single one of them in the car could have done something, and they didn't."
One person had severe head injuries and was listed in critical condition. Two others were treated and released.
Court records show Zavala had three warrants out for his arrest. Two for driver without a license and one for leaving the scene of an accident.
Source :
NHP identifies driver in fatal crash on Summerlin Parkway