A DUI suspect tried to blend in with homeless people after fleeing the scene of a fatal crash Saturday, police said.
Jerry Hughes, 22, refused field sobriety tests when Metropolitan Police Department officers found him outside a business less than a mile from the scene, according to his arrest report.
Police said that Hughes was driving a blue Dodge Charger on East Tropicana Avenue just after 7 a.m. when he ran two red lights, first at South Maryland Parkway and then at Tamarus Street.
As Hughes approached the second intersection, he struck a Toyota Camry that was headed north on Tamarus and was trying to make a left turn onto Tropicana, police said.
Hughes “failed to slow and stop for the red traffic signal entering the intersection,” Metro said in a news release.
The driver of the Camry, whom police identified as 36-year-old Agustin Cruz Mantilla, was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. He was pronounced dead less than 30 minutes after the crash.
Two witnesses told police dispatchers that the driver of the Charger ran east toward a nearby shopping center after the collision.
Police said Hughes was then captured on surveillance video, sitting on the sidewalk outside a tattoo shop and talking with two homeless people about how the crash occurred. The report stated that Hughes made “attempts to blend in with them.”
“He went so far as to encourage the individuals to walk out to the sidewalk to view his vehicle, which was damaged in the collision he had just been involved in,” police said in the report.
Minutes later, officers found Hughes, who they said had a Charger key fob in his pocket. Police also confirmed that the Charger involved was registered to Hughes.
The report stated that Hughes, who had bloodshot, watery eyes, smelled of alcohol. According to the report, officers also found two BuzzBall cocktails and a beer container on the front passenger floorboard.
He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of DUI resulting in death, duty to stop at a crash scene resulting in death and reckless driving resulting in death.
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Amy Ferreira set Hughes’ bail at $150,000 on Sunday, according to online court records. She ordered Hughes not to drive, abstain from drugs and alcohol and undergo both alcohol and high-level electronic monitoring.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.
