By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Arizona truck driver accused of 14 driving felonies in connection to the deaths of five Las Vegas bicyclists on U.S. highway 95 south of metro Las Vegas is scheduled to make his initial court appearance 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The Clark County DA’s amended criminal complaint increased the number of charges from 12 to 14.
Truck driver Jordan Alexander Barson of Kingman, Arizona is accused of driving his truck with methamphetamine in his system into a group of about 20 cyclists 60 miles south of Las Vegas the morning of Dec. 10. The amended criminal complaint against Barson includes two additional charges from the original dozen felonies.
Barson is accused of killing five cyclists: Aksoy Ahmet, Mike Murray, Gerrard Nieva, Erin Roy and Tom Trauger. Clark County DA Steve Wolfson has said Barson was asleep at the wheel when he drove his white Isuzu box truck into the group of cyclists with meth in his system.
By coincidence on the same day Wednesday, Metro police and other police agencies in Las Vegas valley will enforce a state law that requires motorists to pass bicyclists by a minimum distance of three feet in an enforcement and education effort.
It should be noted that motorists are also required under state law to move over a lane if there is a passing lane when passing a bicyclist. Based on personal experiences of bicycling on the roads in Las Vegas, many motorists are unaware of that move-over state law. From Andrew Bennett of the Nevada Department of Public Safety:
In late October, a bicyclist, Michelle Weissman, was also killed on Hollywood Boulevard in the east valley when a person leaned out of a car and intentionally struck Weissman, who died from being struck by the person in the car. That person also died when he fell out of the vehicle.
On Wednesday, Metro will be patrolling West Charleston Boulevard in the middle of the day and stopping motorists who do not pass bicyclists by the minimum required clearance of three feet. LVSportsBiz.com sent an email to Metro for comment about Wednesday’s enforcement event and will include Metro’s comments if they get back to us.