RIP... to all the innocent people.
Driver in Nevada crash that killed 9 had history of speeding
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A driver who police say sped through a red light before crashing his sports car into a minivan, killing himself, his passenger and seven members of a North Las Vegas family, had a history of speeding and prior criminal convictions for drug and battery offenses, authorities said Monday.
A National Transportation Safety Board member, Thomas Chapman, told reporters that federal crash investigators will conduct what he called a “parallel” investigation to one being conducted by North Las Vegas police, looking for “broader safety issues of national significance.”
“Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened,” Chapman said, “and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again.”
North Las Vegas police Officer Alexander Cuevas confirmed the driver who caused the crash, Gary Dean Robinson, 59, of North Las Vegas, had a prior history of traffic and criminal offenses.
Robinson pleaded guilty just nine days before Saturday’s deadly crash to speeding in Las Vegas in December and was fined $150, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing court documents.
Robinson also was ticketed for speeding by Las Vegas police last August; by North Las Vegas police three times between November 2020 and February 2021; and by Henderson police once in 2017, the Review-Journal found.
Robinson had a state prison record after pleading guilty in 2004 to felony cocaine possession and violating terms of his probation, and he had a 2009 misdemeanor conviction for battery on a courtroom bailiff, court records showed.
A man who identified himself as Robinson’s son, Gary Robinson Jr., declined to comment during a telephone call Monday from The Associated Press.
On Saturday, according to police, Robinson’s maroon Dodge Challenger raced at more than 100 mph (161 kph) through a red traffic signal at a busy crossroad, slamming into a Toyota Sienna minivan containing seven family members and triggering chain-reaction crashes involving three other vehicles including a Ford Fusion in which a 31-year-old woman was critically injured.
In all, 15 people were involved in the wrecks, Cuevas said.
It could take up to four weeks for investigators to learn from blood toxicology tests if Robinson was impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the mid-afternoon crash, said Dan Kulin, spokesman for Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse.
Killed in the minivan were the driver, Jose Zacarias-Caldera, 35; and passengers David Mejia-Barrera, 25; Gabriel Mejia-Barrera, 23; Bryan Axel Zacarias, 15; Lluvia Daylenn Zacarias, 13; Adrian Zacarias, 10; and Fernando Yeshua Mejia, 5. They lived in North Las Vegas, Rouse reported.
“It was all one family,” said North Las Vegas City Councilman Isaac Barron, a high school teacher who said his students grew up with Bryan Zacarias and characterized him as a popular and funny classmate.
Barron said plans were being made for a community memorial at a time to be announced.
“It’s a difficult time now,” said Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown, who said she knew members of the Zacarias family. “Just keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers.”
Rouse on Monday identified the passenger who died in Robinson’s wrecked car as Tanaga Ravel Miller, 46, of North Las Vegas.
An online GoFundMe fundraiser launched in Spanish by Erlinda Zacarias identified the people killed in the minivan as her family and said she had no words to describe the pain and suffering she and her husband were bearing. The account showed some 4,000 donors contributed more than $175,000 as of Monday afternoon.
Chapman said the safety board may focus on what he called “a comprehensive strategy to eliminate speed-related crashes.”
“Tragedies such as this compel us to evaluate the potential for improving safety by incorporating speed-limiting technology in all vehicles,” the safety board member told reporters, including high-performance sports cars.
North Las Vegas deadly crash 911 audio released: 'There's bodies everywhere’
The driver who ran a red light and eight others died in the crash
Bystanders to last weekend's Las Vegas-area crash that left nine people dead flooded 911 lines with grim and urgent reports about what they were seeing.
North Las Vegas police released audio this week of the more than a dozen calls that came in about the tragedy.
"There's bodies everywhere," one person told emergency responders. The bystander went on to describe the "horrible accident," according to FOX 5 in Las Vegas.
This photo released by the North Las Vegas Police Department shows a Dodge Challenger in North Las Vegas on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. Las Vegas police said the driver and his passenger were among the dead after Saturday's crash. (Associated Press)
"Oh my God. My God! Get down, it’s a kid, it’s a kid, don’t look!" another caller screamed in Spanish while on the phone with 911, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
More than 100 mph
Gary Robinson, 59, is accused of driving through an intersection going more than 100 mph, killing himself, his passenger and a family of seven in a minivan, including four children between ages 5 and 15.
Authorities get set to tow a vehicle involved a six-car crash at the scene of a fatal crash in North Las Vegas, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. (Associated Press)
Four others were hurt in the six-car pileup, the Review-Journal reported.
‘In front of our eyes’
"It’s a lot of people dead," a third caller told 911. "Inside the car, outside the car."
Erlinda Zacarias, left, and husband Jesus Mejia-Santana hold a portrait showing four of their six children who died on Saturday in "a mass casualty traffic collision" that killed multiple people in North Las Vegas on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. (Associated Press)
"It literally happened right in front of our eyes," one caller said. "There’s a baby dead."
"You need to be here quick," another caller told emergency responders, noting that cars were "smoking," according to FOX 5.
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Those killed in the crash were identified as Yeshua Mejia, 5; Adrian Zacarias, 10; Lluvia Daylenn Zacarias, 13; Bryan Axel Zacarias, 15; Gabriel Mejia-Barrera, 23; David Mejia-Barrera, 25; Jose Zacarias-Caldera, 35; Robinson’s passenger Tanaga Ravel Miller, 46; and Robinson.
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