Yesterday, a man using a motorized wheelchair was struck and killed while crossing West Flamingo Road, just west of South El Capitan Way. First responders rushed him to University Medical Center, but he died there despite emergency efforts.
According to Las Vegas police, the collision happened around 5:22 a.m. A 2024 Kia Forte was heading east in the right travel lane when it hit the man as he crossed outside a marked or implied crosswalk. Surveillance video showed the car striking the front-left side of his wheelchair, throwing him from the chair. Authorities described the victim as a man in his 50s to 60s. The driver, a 66-year-old Las Vegas woman, stayed at the scene, showed no signs of impairment and cooperated with investigators. Metro recorded the death as its 148th traffic-related fatality of the year, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
That stretch of Flamingo has become a recurring trouble spot. In recent months, there have been multiple pedestrian crashes there, many involving people crossing outside crosswalks or in low-light conditions. Local traffic coverage has repeatedly highlighted serious crashes along Flamingo where pedestrians crossing outside marked crosswalks were hit, underscoring a persistent safety problem for people on foot and in wheelchairs, as reported by FOX5.
Metro Steps Up Enforcement At High-Risk Crossings
Las Vegas Metro has flagged several sections of Flamingo among a dozen intersections citywide targeted for increased enforcement focused on speeding, impairment and failure to yield. The department says officers will be doing targeted patrols and traffic enforcement at the most dangerous locations in an effort to cut down on serious and deadly crashes, as noted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Investigation And How To Help
LVMPD's Collision Investigation Section is still piecing together what happened, reviewing physical evidence and surveillance footage to reconstruct the crash and pinpoint the sequence of events. Investigators are asking anyone with information or video related to the incident to contact the Collision Investigation Section at (702) 828-3595 or Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555, as stated by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
A Pattern Of Deadly Crashes
This is not an isolated case. Wheelchair users have been struck and killed in several crashes across the Las Vegas Valley this year, underscoring the ongoing danger for people with mobility impairments navigating local streets. In early November, another person using a motorized wheelchair was killed when a pickup truck fled the scene on Judson Avenue. That hit-and-run and other similar cases remain under investigation, local coverage shows, as per FOX5 Las Vegas.
