Wreck adds to neighbors’ frustration
Car crashes through brick wall into pool
Neighbors want to see changes after a car drove through the brick wall of a central Las Vegas home and fell into an empty pool Tuesday.
Las Vegas police said that they received a call of a hit-and-run at 1:32 p.m. at 3209 Robin Circle Road. Irvin Eustaquio, the neighbor across the street from the home, heard a loud bang and went outside to check. His first thought was that it was another crash.
When Eustaquio went across the street to check on the noise, he said he saw two men in their 30s standing around. Eustaquio knocked on the door of his neighbors for help. The neighbors quickly went to check to see if there was anyone left in the car, a white Kia, as there was a baby seat in the back. There was no one in the car.
Once he saw the two men take off running, Eustaquio said he knew something was wrong.
“I put two and two together,” he said. “It was them.”
Neighbors did their best to chase the men as far as they could, but after the men began hopping over fences, the neighbors weren’t able to pursue them any further.
The car hit the wall so hard that the brick fragments that hit the exterior of the home nearly penetrated through the wall. Eustaquio said police told him that the car was stolen and was towed away Tuesday night. There were still pieces of the car at the bottom of the pool as of Wednesday.
Brad Thacker, a neighbor helping at the scene on Tuesday, said he saw a bloody handprint on the car and a small trail of blood following the men in the direction they fled the scene, toward Pecos Road.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Las Vegas police said no one had been arrested.
Dave Thompson, the homeowner, said Wednesday that no one was home at the time of the crash.
Neighbors want change
There are no speed limits posted on the sidewalk along University Avenue and Mojave Road, the main intersection near the home. This is not the first time someone has crashed into a corner house on that intersection, according to Sheryl Thacker, one of Thompson’s neighbors and Brad Thacker’s mother.
“People keep going through their backyards, and one of these days you’re going to end up killing somebody,” Thacker said. “It’s to the point of frustration.”
The intersection is frequented by reckless drivers, Brad Thacker said. On one occasion, the Thackers heard a driver doing doughnuts, went outside and saw a passenger recording the stunt, before getting back in the car to speed off.
When they’ve called police, the drivers have already driven off. Even when drivers aren’t doing doughnuts, they’re “flying” down the street.
“Nothing has ever been done,” he said. And neighbors are sick of it.
Sheryl Thacker and her family are cautious of the street, as her grandchildren can hardly play on half of the block because of reckless driving. The family would like to see speed bumps being added on the intersection to the street to prevent speeding near the residential neighborhood.
“Put something that slows them down, especially in the residential neighborhoods,” she said. “There is enough people getting killed on the roadways.”