Man originally faced DUI charges, which prosecutors dropped
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The truck driver accused of colliding with three motorcyclists, killing them outside of Las Vegas, reportedly told troopers the wind caused him to drive the wrong way on the road, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained Wednesday.
Claude Rafiki, 29, of Michigan, faces three charges of reckless driving resulting in death for the March 23 crash on State Route 163 near Laughlin. A witness said Rafiki crossed over the highway’s centerline, crashing into two motorcycles, killing its two drivers and one passenger.
The crash killed Owen Hart, 22; Athena Faye Taylor, 21, and Jeremy Gebo, 44, all of Saint George, Utah, the coroner’s office said.
Rafiki told police the “wind” caused him to go the wrong way, documents said. He said he was not impaired and took medicine for seizures.
Rafiki’s initial court appearance was delayed several days as the courts were working to find Rafiki a translator, records indicated. Rafiki speaks Kinyarwanda, a Central African language.
Police initially arrested Rafiki on three charges of DUI resulting in death.
The trooper noted Rafiki had “bloodshot eyes,” “an unsteady gait” and an “unsatisfactory performance” on his field sobriety test, leading a judge to find probable cause to take two samples of his blood. A trooper trained as a drug recognition expert believed “Rafiki [was] under the influence of a dissociative anesthetic and central nervous system stimulants,” documents said.
State police never released any information about why they believed Rafiki was impaired other than what was in the document obtained Wednesday.
Last month, a Laughlin Justice Court official declined to release Rafiki’s arrest report, citing Nevada State Police as the rightful agency to do so. Unlike Las Vegas Metro police, Nevada State Police has a policy of not releasing arrest reports amid pending criminal proceedings. The department appeared to go against its policy Wednesday in the documents’ release to the 8 News Now Investigators.
A preliminary hearing in Rafiki’s justice court case was scheduled for April 25. He remained in custody as of Wednesday on $500,000 bail.
The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for southern Nevada on March 23, saying gusts could reach 55 mph.
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