By Farhan Naqvi, Personal Injury Lawyer in Las Vegas
More information about Friday afternoon’s deadly bike accident in North Las Vegas have come to light. But some of the details lead to more questions.
The victim has been identified as 50-year old Maria Nunez de Mendez, who died from suffocation and multiple blunt force injuries after being struck by a pickup truck on Craig Road last week. Nunez de Mendez was trapped underneath a Toyota Tundra when emergency responders arrived. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
But identifying who is at fault may be a challenge. The woman was riding her bicycle on the sidewalk when the truck was pulling out of a commercial parking lot. The bicyclist was struck while crossing the private drive.
Police are still investigating and have yet to make any arrests or issue any citations. All they have determined was that neither alcohol nor drugs played a role in the bike accident. But some of the questions which remain unanswered include:
- Should the driver have checked the sidewalk for bicyclists before pulling into the street?
- Were there any crosswalk markings or warning signs in the area?
- Why was the bicyclist riding on the sidewalk and not in the street (or are bikes permitted on the sidewalk in that area)?
If police cannot find satisfactory answers to these questions, they will not file any criminal charges. But should the woman’s heirs decide to file a wrongful death lawsuit, their attorney will have to demonstrate that the truck’s driver was at least partially responsible for the accident in order for the family to receive compensation from the court.
About the Editor: Farhan R. Naqvi is a Las Vegas personal injury lawyer who has experience representing victims injured in car accidents, drunk driver crashes, truck wrecks, slip and falls, taxi cab accidents, and bicycle crashes. He also has experience handling spine injury, product liability, underinsured/uninsured driver, and wrongful death cases. If you’ve been seriously hurt in an accident in Summerlin, North Las Vegas, Clark County, Henderson, Boulder City, Green Valley, or Pahrump, give Farhan a call at 702-553-1000 for a free, no-hassle consultation.