A 30-year-old woman described by police as a local transient was struck and killed by a vehicle at the intersection of Lee Avenue and Sixth Street in Bullhead City Tuesday night, and the driver did not stop. She was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency crews responded to a report of a person lying in the roadway.
According to the Bullhead City Police Department, detectives soon received information that the suspected driver was across the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department assisted with the investigation and arrested 61-year-old Bullhead City resident Nicky Manuel Padia on charges of leaving the scene of a fatal collision, police said. Padia's transfer to Mohave County custody will likely require interstate extradition proceedings, since Laughlin is an unincorporated Clark County community policed directly by Las Vegas Metro rather than by Arizona authorities, as detailed on Wikipedia.
Police have not yet released the identity of the woman who was killed, saying her name will be made public only after next of kin have been notified. The investigation into the collision remains ongoing, and no additional details on how the crash occurred have been released.
A Familiar Border Crossing for Suspects
This is not the first time a Bullhead City hit-and-run suspect has allegedly fled across the river into Nevada. In February, a Laughlin resident was arrested on murder and hit-and-run charges after 40-year-old pedestrian Moses James Michael French was struck and killed near Highway 95, a case Hoodline previously covered in detail. Detectives in that earlier case reported the victim had been assaulted inside a vehicle before being struck.
The physical link between the two cities makes such crossings easier than ever. The $52.4 million Silver Copper Crossing, a 724-foot bridge jointly funded by Clark County, Bullhead City, and federal grants, opened in June 2024 to speed movement across the Colorado River for residents and emergency responders alike, according to a Bullhead City Police Department Facebook post.
Sightline Concerns at the Intersection
Local residents and community observers flagged possible road-design hazards at Lee Avenue and Sixth Street, noting that eastbound traffic lacks a stop sign and that a high wooden fence near the corner obstructs sightlines, per posts on Bullhead & Laughlin News on Facebook. Lee Avenue runs through a residential area near several of the city's main thoroughfares.
It is not the first fatal pedestrian crash the department has handled in that corridor. In September 2020, Bullhead City Police investigated a separate fatal collision in the 1700 block of Highway 95, the commercial corridor that runs parallel to the Colorado River, where a male pedestrian was struck and killed by an oncoming vehicle.
What Padia Could Face Under Arizona Law
Under Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-661, leaving the scene of a fatal traffic collision is a Class 3 felony carrying two to eight years in prison, according to the Tamou Law Group. That charge escalates to a Class 2 felony punishable by up to 12.5 years in prison if the driver is determined to have caused the crash. Arizona law imposes an affirmative duty on drivers to stop immediately, exchange information, and render aid following any collision involving injury or death.
A conviction also carries administrative consequences beyond prison time. Arizona's hit-and-run statute mandates a 10-year driver's license revocation for anyone convicted of leaving the scene of a fatal collision, regardless of whether they were driving a commercial or personal vehicle, according to AZ Law Now.
A Dangerous Pattern for Pedestrians
Statewide data underscores how deadly vehicle-versus-pedestrian crashes have become. Arizona recorded 1,714 pedestrian collisions in 2024, and those crashes carried a 12.55% fatality rate compared with under 1% for all motor vehicle crashes combined, per the Arizona Department of Transportation figures cited by Ramos Law. Total pedestrian crashes in the state rose 35% between 2020 and 2024.
Mohave County, where Bullhead City sits, recorded 445 fatal traffic collisions and 513 traffic deaths between 2015 and 2023, ranking among the top four counties in Arizona for fatal crashes, according to Law Badgers PLLC. Statewide analyses of crash data from 2022 to 2024 also show that more than 80% of fatal collisions occur in urban areas, with the 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. window representing the peak time for fatal incidents, per Elmm Law Group.
Bullhead City Police said the investigation is continuing and that the victim's name will be released once her family has been notified.
