David Howard spent his days teaching jiu-jitsu to children around Las Vegas until a semi-truck making a left turn allegedly rolled over him on his electric bicycle, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury, a shattered cervical spine, and months of relearning how to breathe, swallow and speak. More than two months after the crash, Howard remained in inpatient rehabilitation, still unable to eat solid food or talk without significant difficulty.
Howard filed a lawsuit on July 13 in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County, Nevada, naming both the truck driver and Parke Cox Trucking Co. Inc. as defendants, according to RadarOnline. High-profile Las Vegas attorney Steve Dimopoulos, known locally as the 'Batman Lawyer' for his ubiquitous 'WE WIN' billboards and a Batman-themed commercial that aired during a 2025 broadcast, was retained to represent Howard the same day the suit was filed. Dimopoulos called Howard's survival a miracle.
The lawsuit alleges the semi-truck crossed multiple lanes of traffic while turning left, cutting directly into Howard's path. Court filings claim the driver was looking out the left-side window, away from the road, at the moment of impact, and that the truck's own synchronized dashcam system — which captured footage from inside the cab and of the road ahead simultaneously — showed Howard directly in the vehicle's path when it struck him. The truck reportedly continued an estimated 113 feet past the point of impact before stopping, and an eyewitness told authorities the truck's wheels rolled over Howard's chest.
Catastrophic Injuries and a Long Road to Recovery
Howard suffered severe cervical-spine trauma requiring surgical fusion with permanent hardware, along with a traumatic brain injury and respiratory failure that required intubation and a mechanical ventilator. He now depends on a PEG feeding tube for nutrition because he cannot safely swallow. More than two months after the crash, per the same account, he remained hospitalized and continued to struggle to speak.
What Nevada Law Says About Left Turns and E-Bikes
Nevada traffic law places a strict duty on drivers making left turns. Under Nevada Revised Statutes Section 484B.253, according to Justia Law, any driver turning left within an intersection or onto a driveway must yield the right-of-way to an approaching vehicle or cyclist close enough to constitute an immediate hazard. Nevada law also grants electric bicycle riders the same roadway rights and duties as motor-vehicle drivers under NRS 484B.763 and NRS 484B.777, meaning Howard held full legal standing to share the road, as outlined by Koch & Brim.
That legal framework does not guarantee a straightforward path to recovery. Nevada enforces a modified comparative negligence rule under NRS 41.141, which allows injured crash victims to recover damages as long as their own share of fault does not exceed 50%, according to Price & Beckstrom. Defense attorneys in commercial truck crashes frequently attempt to assign partial blame to cyclists to reduce financial exposure, and Parke Cox Trucking and its driver are being defended by Cory Jeffers of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, a national defense firm with more than 1,500 attorneys across over 50 offices.
A Utah Carrier With a Mixed Safety Record
Parke Cox Trucking Co. Inc. is a St. George, Utah-based interstate freight carrier operating under USDOT #123792, running a fleet of 82 owned tractors and 227 trailers. In federal motor carrier filings for 2025, the company reported nearly 7.93 million total vehicle miles traveled while logging safety percentiles of 29.3% in unsafe driving and 14.6% in vehicle maintenance during roadside inspections, according to CarrierSource data drawn from federal safety records.
Part of a Wider Surge in E-Bike Crashes
Howard's case lands amid a sharp rise in serious e-bike and e-scooter injuries across Southern Nevada. Trauma centers in the region treated 602 patients for injuries from electric bike and scooter collisions in 2025, a roughly 400% surge compared to previous years, as Hoodline reported after a fatal Sahara Avenue crash. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department traffic records show eight people died in micromobility crashes within the city in 2025 through mid-November, split between three e-bike fatalities and five e-scooter deaths, per the Nevada Independent.
That local spike stands in contrast to statewide trends. Nevada recorded 381 traffic fatalities in 2025, a 9.29% decrease from the 420 road deaths logged in 2024, according to preliminary data from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety. The gap between falling overall fatalities and the surging e-bike injury count has drawn heightened attention to how commercial vehicles and vulnerable riders share Clark County roads.
A High-Profile Attorney Takes the Case
Dimopoulos, whose firm maintains offices in Las Vegas and Phoenix, has built a reputation handling complex litigation, class actions, and catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases nationwide. His firm previously secured a multimillion-dollar settlement for roughly 35,000 Formula 1 fans whose experience was disrupted during the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix practice session. Hoodline has previously covered Dimopoulos's Vegas profile, and also reported on another Dimopoulos Injury Law case involving a Clark County gun range lawsuit.
For now, Howard's case moves forward in Clark County court as he continues his rehabilitation. The lawsuit's core dispute — whether the truck driver failed to yield while crossing multiple lanes, and whether any fault will be assigned to Howard under Nevada's comparative negligence rules — remains unresolved.
