Police: Driver in crash that killed infant was going 121 mph
A 23-year-old woman arrested Sunday night after a crash that killed her 1-yearold son was driving 121 mph at the time of the collision, according to a Las Vegas police report.
Lauren Prescia was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of DUI resulting in death, reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm and allowing child abuse or neglect resulting in substantial bodily or mental harm, jail records show.
Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to Rampart and Lake Mead boulevards around 7:17 p.m. in response to multiple 911 calls reporting a multiple-vehicle crash and a baby that was ejected from one of the vehicles and assumed to be dead, according to an arrest report.
Arriving officers confirmed that the baby was dead and spoke to Prescia, who had been driving a 2020 Hyundai Sonata. Prescia had bloodshot eyes, smelled like alcohol and slurred her speech,
the report said. Prescia told officers that she drank two 12-ounce White Claw hard seltzers around 4 p.m.
She was transported to University Medical Center for treatment, the report said. Prescia’s blood was drawn at 9:09 p.m. and again at 10:08 p.m., but the results of the blood tests were not given.
Police determined that Prescia was driving north on Rampart at a high rate of speed with her son, Royce Jones, in a car seat in the back passenger seat. A white 2011 Nissan Sentra turned right from westbound Lake Mead onto northbound Rampart and merged into the center lane, where it was hit by the Hyundai.
Police spoke with Cameron Hubbard-jones, the baby’s father, who said he was also driving on Rampart at the time of the crash to do a custody exchange with Prescia. He said he was on the phone with Prescia as they drove and she began speeding after she told him she was going to beat him home, the report said.
Hubbard-jones told police that he asked Prescia to slow down because their son was in the car, but she sped through the intersection and hit the car while trying to change lanes, the report said.
Investigators accessed the airbag control module from Prescia’s Hyundai and determined she was driving around 121 mph at the time of the crash, the report said. The speed limit in the area is 45 mph.
Prescia is expected in court on Tuesday morning.