A motorist of this white box Isuzu truck drove the vehicle into a group of bicyclists Thursday along US highway 95 in Southern Nevada. Photo: Nevada Highway Patrol

Arizona Truck Driver Charged With DUI And Faces 12 Felony Charges In Connection To Thursday’s Crash That Killed Five Cyclists South Of Las Vegas

By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com

Authorities have identified the truck driver who killed five bicyclists in Southern Nevada last Thursday as Jordan Alexander Barson, 45, of Kingman, Arizona, and he is facing five counts of DUI with death, one count of DUI with substantial bodily harm and six counts of reckless driving.

Barson was taken into custody at 7 a.m. today by the Mojave County Sheriffs Department in Kingman, Arizona. The Sheriffs deputies were executing an arrest warrant issued by the Clark County District Attorney’s office based on the investigation being conducted by the Nevada Highway Patrol.  Here is the official Clark County DA statement:

Barson mug shot from Mojave County, Arizona
LVSportsBiz.com spoke with Clark County DA Steve Wolfson about the DUI charge today. Wolfson, who attended Saturday’s vigil for the Las Vegas Five, said he rides an E-bike and was touched by the words of family members who shared stories about the bicyclists killed last Thursday. Wolfson explained Barson fell asleep at the wheel and had high levels of meth:

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For the past week, metro Las Vegas and bicyclists worldwide have mourned for the loss of five cyclists killed Dec. 10 when Barson drove a white Isuzu box truck into a group of about 20 bicyclists pedaling the 130-mile “Nipton Loop” ride along U.S. highway 95 between Boulder City and Searchlight in Clark County at 9:39 a.m.
The five bicyclists who died were Aksoy Ahmet, Mike Murray, Gerrard Nieva, Erin Ray and Tom Trauger. On Saturday, an emotional vigil was staged at Las Vegas Cyclery to remember the five.
LVSportsBiz.com also talked with Las Vegas bicycle leader Pat Treichel Wednesday for reaction and comments:
Cyclist Terri Buryanov has asked for videos of the Las Vegas 5: “If anyone has any videos with Erin, Mike, Tom, Gerrard or Aksoy in them, would you please be willing to email them to me? This is probably the hardest video I will ever make, but I know I have to do something to raise awareness about the lack of safety on our roads and I also want to make sure I honor our friends well. Anything you have would be greatly appreciated because I only have a little bit of Erin. You can send it to imterribee@gmail.com 🙏🏻” Here is Terri’s video of Erin.
It should be noted that at the scene of the crash last Thursday, the Nevada Highway Patrol PIO mentioned that Barson did not appear to be impaired.

 

 

 

 

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.