Hit-and-Run Motorist Leaves Bicyclist With Broken Neck, Two Broken Vertebrae After Smashing Into Cyclist In West Vegas Valley Intersection A Week Ago
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — A hit-and-run motorist left Las Vegas bicyclist Rich Broome with a broken neck, two cracked vertebrae and a nasty knee gash that needed five stitches to close a week ago in the west Vegas Valley.
Broome’s road bicycle lies broken in two parts on his living room floor.
But the driver did not break Broome’s spirit. The 68-yeear-old CEO of the Public Education Foundation said he does not feel anger seven days later but does not understand how a person can operate a car, smash into a bicyclist in an intersection and then drive off without providing aid.
And Broome, a former Caesars Entertainment communications executive, is going public about this crash because he wants to build awareness about road violence in Las Vegas.
At 7:14 AM Aug. 9, Broome was pedaling his road bike on Count Diero Drive through the Hualapai Way intersection when a middle-aged woman operating a red boxy car like a Kia Soul or Honda Element heading in the opposite direction made a left turn right into Broome after they “locked eyes” when both entered the intersection.
There was no time for Broome to take evasive action to avoid being hit by the motorist. Still conscious from the car crashing into him, Broome looked for the driver who headed down Hualapai Way toward the nearby Sahara Avenue intersection.
“I can’t figure out how she was gone,” Broome told LVSportsBiz.com Sunday afternoon. “My feeling was not anger. It was what the f—? How can you can you leave a human being in the road without helping?
This is Las Vegas and Clark County and, tragically, there have been too many crashes caused by car drivers making bad choices. The number of road fatalities are down this year compared to the same time in 2025, but the crashes and near-hits continue in the Las Vegas metro area.
“It was shocking to me,” Broome said. “She neither tried to brake nor evade me in the intersection.”
Broome described the car and the driver:
Broome’s Garmin device alerted his wife, Kristine, about the crash. She was also bicycling on a nearby group bike ride. After the hit-and-run driver left the crash, two motorists stopped to help move Broome out of the intersection and to the side of the road. Kristine also arrived at the scene.
First responders took Broome to University Medical Center and Las Vegas Metro Police officers arrived at UMC soon later. Police are working the hit-and-run case, but have not been able to obtain any video showing the driver’s car. Broome described the motorist as a middle-aged woman with brown hair and said the boxy red car had a distinct metallic front grill.
Clark County is home to some of the most vicious motorized vehicle-bicyclist crash fatalities. On Dec. 10, 2020, a box truck driver smashed into a group of cyclists south of Boulder City, killing five bicyclists. Less than three years later in August 2023, two teenagers intentionally crashed their car into a 64-year-old bicyclist and retired police chief from California who was biking in the Centennial Hills area in the northwest valley.
In addition, motorists struck 427 Clark County School District students who were going to or coming from schools in the last school year, with four students killed by drivers. LVSportsBiz.com has urged Clark County and the city of Las Vegas to take drastic action to stem the Vegas area road violence. The cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas earn very low bicycle network scores from the national People For Bikes organizations.
Last year, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a TV news interview that his department has failed and should receive an F for the deaths and crashes on Las Vegas area roads. He is correct.
Broome said he is speaking out to try and make motorists aware of their responsibility to drive safely and avoid hitting bicyclists, walkers and runners. He also wants the motorist who struck him to be caught and Broome praised police efforts to find the hit-and-run driver.
“More awareness is good,” Broome said. “It will help people be safe out there.”
PSA
LVSportsBiz.com is turning 10 years old in 2027
