Sunset Road was blocked on August 10, 2015 after a deadly crash near the Airport Connector. (Armando Navarro/FOX5) Posted: August 10, 2015
Written by Matt Guillermo
and Aaron Barker
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) -
Police, who originally said a tractor-trailer caused a fatal crash near McCarran International Airport on Monday morning, said they now believe a different vehicle was responsible.
The crash happened at 8:17 a.m. on Sunset Road, near the intersection with Paradise Road.
Originally, Sgt. Richard Strader, of Las Vegas Metro police, said that the semi slammed into the back of a car, which killed the woman inside the vehicle, and caused a chain-reaction crash involving four more vehicles.
By Monday afternoon, however, Strader said investigators now believe a sport utility vehicle that flipped because of the crash was responsible.
Strader said he still believes the driver of the semi witnessed the crash, and investigators would still like to talk to that driver.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified the woman who died as a result of the crash as 39-year-old Christine Robinson, of Las Vegas.
“I recall a big, white semi-truck and a white car. I don’t know which car hit me, and one of those cars clipped the front of my car and sent me flying through the air, and I landed on the roof of my car,” said Angie Bashay, who was involved in the crash.
Metro on Monday afternoon said Bashay’s account doesn’t accurately describe what happened. Investigators received surveillance video from a nearby post office and reconstructed the crash scene. Police said it appeared Bashay slammed into the back of Robinson’s car, causing the chain-reaction crash.
“She didn’t lie to us, but wasn’t truthful with us. She came back to the scene for an unrelated issue. We interviewed her again, and now we know for sure that she’s the one who had driven, even though we already knew that for a fact,” Strader said.
Strader said witnesses sometimes repeat what they hear from others.
“That’s why it’s so imperative to us that as investigators that when we have a witness, we separate them and take them away from everybody, because when they start talking to people, that information gets convoluted and not as accurate,” he said.