As Cinco de Mayo and Kentucky Derby parties rev up across the valley, one Las Vegas family is pleading with neighbors to plan their rides home before the first round is poured. Denise Parish lost her husband, Adolph "Al" Weiss, in a suspected DUI crash on April 28, 2024, and says the way her family marks big party weekends has never been the same. Her message is blunt and personal: if you are going to drink, do not drive.
Family Revisits Crash Site And Warns Neighbors
Parish told KSNV that she and Weiss had been together for 50 years, and that she still misses him every day. Two years after the collision, she returned to the crash site with her granddaughter, Bailee Berger, to talk about what happened and what they want others to learn from it.
Berger recalled that the driver "was going over a hundred miles an hour" before the impact and said her grandfather's vehicle was left "completely demolished." The family says they now avoid major party weekends altogether and are urging their neighbors to line up a rideshare or a sober driver instead of getting behind the wheel impaired.
Police Cite High Speed And Wrong-Way Impact
Police records show the two-vehicle crash happened around 10:40 p.m. on April 28, 2024, near South Buffalo Drive and Peacock Avenue, when investigators say a driver crossed a median and struck Weiss head-on, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A witness estimated the driver was traveling close to 100 mph.
Jail logs cited by the outlet show the suspect was booked on counts of felony DUI resulting in death and reckless driving resulting in death or substantial injury. Weiss was taken to University Medical Center, where he later died.
Sentence And Legal Outcome
De Leon was sentenced to a minimum of six years and a maximum of 20 years for driving under the influence resulting in death, according to KSNV. Authorities had charged him with felony DUI resulting in death and reckless driving tied to the April 2024 crash.
Plan Ahead: Rideshare Discounts And Enforcement
State safety groups and rideshare companies are trying to make it easier to choose a safer option. Nevada’s Zero Fatalities program teamed up with Lyft to offer a $5 ride discount for Cinco de Mayo celebrations, according to Fox5 Las Vegas. The idea is simple: cutting the cost of a ride so it is harder to justify driving after drinking.
Officials also point out that Nevada does not have a statewide last call, a policy that can stretch party nights and put extra pressure on planning a safe trip home, per LegalClarity. Law enforcement and traffic safety campaigns around major holiday weekends are built around the same goal, keeping impaired drivers off the road before they can cause a crash.
For Parish, the plea is as simple as it is painful: plan ahead, pick a sober driver, or tap a rideshare, because once a crash happens, families are left replaying the choices that could have kept someone alive. Her family says they will be staying home on big party weekends now, a quiet reminder that one careful decision can be the difference between a celebration and a tragedy.
