A Carson City man was critically injured Wednesday afternoon and a 15-year-old boy arrested on numerous charges, including leaving the scene of an injury accident, taking a vehicle without owner's consent and driving without a license.
According to Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chava Rothschild, victim Frank Florek, 63, was driving down the hill into Carson City on Highway 395 when a truck driven by the teenager made a U-turn into the southbound lane. Florek swerved to avoid a collision and lost control of his vehicle, over correcting into the median then flipping over onto the northbound lanes.
Passengers Jeremy Neilsen, 15, and Steve Peters, 15, said they were in the vehicle with the unidentified teen driver.
"He totally cut off that other truck," Steve said.
"That was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life," Jeremy said.
They said once the driver saw what he had done he sped away from the scene.
"We were screaming at him, 'Stop! Pullover! What are you doing?' but he just kept driving faster," Steve said. "I told him, 'You just killed somebody,' and he kept going."
The boys said finally after yelling at the driver, he pulled over in front of Glen Eagles and took off running.
"He yelled at us not to tell who he is and then he just took off," Jeremy said.
The boys called 911 and the owner of the truck, another teen known as Cody, who told them he had no idea his truck was missing while he took a nap. Cody and his girlfriend Cheris Roberts, 16, picked up the two boys and brought them up to the scene of the accident.
"Is the guy OK?" they both inquired.
When asked why they identified the driver to authorities, Cheris said, "When it comes down to someone's life like this, we're not going to lie."
"I just couldn't believe he was running, that's just wrong," Steve said.
The driver was found later at his parents' home and taken into custody. Florek was taken to Washoe Medical Center by CareFlight helicopter and is suffering from broken ribs, a broken clavicle, a head wound and was on a ventilator. He was listed in critical but stable condition.
