While 2012 seems to be an improvement over 2011 in terms of fatal auto-pedestrian accidents, too many
people in the valley are still dying this year after being struck by vehicles. It almost makes you want to tell pedestrians in Las Vegas and across Clark County to stay off the streets entirely and stick to the sidewalks – although that didn’t help a woman in the northeast valley last month. Similarly, walking on a sidewalk wasn’t enough to protect a man in Henderson this week.
On Friday morning just before 7:15am, a man was walking on a sidewalk that runs along Hampton Road in the Anthem neighborhood of Henderson. Near Point Pleasant Drive, a car left the roadway and struck the man, who was pronounced dead on the scene. There’s no word on what caused the car to drive onto the sidewalk, but authorities are interviewing the driver.
Though no citations have yet been issued by Henderson Police, it appears that the elderly man who was driving the car will be held liable for the death of the male pedestrian. Therefore, the driver could be named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family members of the victim. Such a suit could allow the family to collect damages for pain and suffering and/or loss of care and companionship, and receive compensation for lost future wages the man would have earned had the accident not claimed his life. The plaintiffs could also get reimbursed for burial costs as well.