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[font=Verdana, Arial][font=verdana,arial]Two 83-year-olds[/font][/font][font=Verdana, Arial][font=verdana,arial]
[/font][/font][font=Verdana, Arial][font=verdana,arial] hospitalized after two-story crash
[/font][/font] [font=Verdana, Arial] An out-of-town couple in their 80s driving in a rental car plowed through a steel-reinforced concrete barrier at the Golden Nugget's parking garage on Monday, sending them plunging 18 feet to the pavement below. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Police said Edward Marcinkowski and Violet Krywinski, both 83, and both of Middletown, Conn., were in serious but stable condition Monday evening. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] "It was just a fluke accident," Las Vegas police detective Bill Redfairn said. He added that he'd spoken to Krywinski, and "she was alert and very coherent. For 83 years old and having gone through this, she was with it." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] It was the second time in less than a year that a senior citizen crashed a vehicle through a wall at the Golden Nugget's garage and landed on the ground below. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] In January, George Yago, 83, the driver, and Maureen Yago, 79, were killed when the car they were in crashed four stories to the ground. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] A Golden Nugget spokeswoman said Monday that the parking garage passed building inspection after the January crash and "was up to code." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The spokeswoman, Sylke Finnegan, declined to say if the hotel made safety improvements after the January incident or if it plans to in the future. "We're awaiting results of the investigation," she said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] In Monday's incident, witnesses told police that the 2005 Chevrolet Impala turned a corner on the second floor of the garage. Suddenly, the car raced forward, as if its gas pedal were pushed down, Redfairn said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] "No brake. No nothing," he said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The 4-door sedan crashed into a 6-inch-thick, steel-reinforced concrete wall at an angle, knocking the wall to the ground. The car then plunged 18 feet into an unoccupied alley, landed on its front bumper and then flipped onto its roof. It was unknown if the occupants were wearing seat belts, but Redfairn said the car's air bags did deploy. He also said he did not know yet which person was driving the car.<!-- TEXT of COL2 --> [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Emergency crews from the Las Vegas Fire Department removed the passenger-side door from the car and took the occupants to University Medical Center's Trauma Center. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Redfairn said there could be three possible reasons a car would appear to accelerate instead of braking. The first is that the driver could have suffered from an acute medical problem, such as a seizure or heart attack. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The second possibility is that the car inexplicably accelerated by itself. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The third is that the driver could have accidentally pressed down on the gas pedal instead of the brake. Because the couple was in a rental car, the driver probably was not familiar with the vehicle. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] That sort of mistake has happened before. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Last year, for example, 86-year-old George Russell Weller plowed through a crowded Farmer's Market in Santa Monica, Calif., killing 10 people. Police said he pressed down on the wrong pedal. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] In the incident earlier this year at the Golden Nugget, police speculated that the driver did the same thing. They also said he may have suffered a heart attack before the crash. But, Redfairn said Monday, police were never able to definitively say what caused that crash. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The cause of Monday's crash remains under investigation. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Redfairn said investigators were able to download information from the car's computer that should be able to tell them how fast the car was traveling when its air bags deployed, and whether the brake or the gas pedal was pushed at the time. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Review-Journal writer Frank Geary contributed to this report. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Review-Journal[/font]
[/font][/font][font=Verdana, Arial][font=verdana,arial] hospitalized after two-story crash [/font][/font] [font=Verdana, Arial] An out-of-town couple in their 80s driving in a rental car plowed through a steel-reinforced concrete barrier at the Golden Nugget's parking garage on Monday, sending them plunging 18 feet to the pavement below. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Police said Edward Marcinkowski and Violet Krywinski, both 83, and both of Middletown, Conn., were in serious but stable condition Monday evening. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] "It was just a fluke accident," Las Vegas police detective Bill Redfairn said. He added that he'd spoken to Krywinski, and "she was alert and very coherent. For 83 years old and having gone through this, she was with it." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] It was the second time in less than a year that a senior citizen crashed a vehicle through a wall at the Golden Nugget's garage and landed on the ground below. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] In January, George Yago, 83, the driver, and Maureen Yago, 79, were killed when the car they were in crashed four stories to the ground. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] A Golden Nugget spokeswoman said Monday that the parking garage passed building inspection after the January crash and "was up to code." [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The spokeswoman, Sylke Finnegan, declined to say if the hotel made safety improvements after the January incident or if it plans to in the future. "We're awaiting results of the investigation," she said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] In Monday's incident, witnesses told police that the 2005 Chevrolet Impala turned a corner on the second floor of the garage. Suddenly, the car raced forward, as if its gas pedal were pushed down, Redfairn said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] "No brake. No nothing," he said. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The 4-door sedan crashed into a 6-inch-thick, steel-reinforced concrete wall at an angle, knocking the wall to the ground. The car then plunged 18 feet into an unoccupied alley, landed on its front bumper and then flipped onto its roof. It was unknown if the occupants were wearing seat belts, but Redfairn said the car's air bags did deploy. He also said he did not know yet which person was driving the car.<!-- TEXT of COL2 --> [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Emergency crews from the Las Vegas Fire Department removed the passenger-side door from the car and took the occupants to University Medical Center's Trauma Center. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Redfairn said there could be three possible reasons a car would appear to accelerate instead of braking. The first is that the driver could have suffered from an acute medical problem, such as a seizure or heart attack. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The second possibility is that the car inexplicably accelerated by itself. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The third is that the driver could have accidentally pressed down on the gas pedal instead of the brake. Because the couple was in a rental car, the driver probably was not familiar with the vehicle. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] That sort of mistake has happened before. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Last year, for example, 86-year-old George Russell Weller plowed through a crowded Farmer's Market in Santa Monica, Calif., killing 10 people. Police said he pressed down on the wrong pedal. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] In the incident earlier this year at the Golden Nugget, police speculated that the driver did the same thing. They also said he may have suffered a heart attack before the crash. But, Redfairn said Monday, police were never able to definitively say what caused that crash. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] The cause of Monday's crash remains under investigation. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial] Redfairn said investigators were able to download information from the car's computer that should be able to tell them how fast the car was traveling when its air bags deployed, and whether the brake or the gas pedal was pushed at the time. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Review-Journal writer Frank Geary contributed to this report. [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial]Review-Journal[/font]