Steve Marcus
Stuffed animals and flowers are shown at a makeshift memorial near the intersection of Rampart at Lake Mead boulevards Tuesday, July 14, 2020. One-year-old Royce Jones was killed in a traffic accident at the siteSunday.
By Ricardo Torres-Cortez (contact)
Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 2 a.m.
As night fell Tuesday, items that remained scattered around the heavily-damaged shopping center marquee near Rampart and Lake Mead boulevards illustrated the tragedy that ensued 48 hours before.
The punishing Las Vegas heat had wilted flowers and deflated Spider-Man balloons that swayed in the breeze at the impromptu memorial. Stuffed animals, still in good shape, surrounded them. A passerby with a trained eye might have seen charred brush, shattered glass, a broken wooden sign, and a bent exhaust pipe lying around.
Yellow lines painted by Metro Police investigators, veering from Rampart into the entrance of a shopping center, showed the turbulent path Lauren Loanna Prescias car took after it nicked another vehicle at 121 mph Sunday, subsequently smashing into the base of the marquee, which severed her car in two, instantly killing her 1-year-old son, Royce.
The posted speed limit on that road is 45 mph.
Prescia, 23, whom officers allege slurred her words and smelled of alcohol, walked away with minor injuries, according to her arrest report. Royce died strapped in his childs car seat in the back of his mothers unrecognizable 2020 Hyundai Sonata.
His father, Cameron Hubbard-Jones, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a felony count of reckless driving causing the death of a juvenile.
Hubbard-Jones witnessed the crash from a separate vehicle, which had also accelerated to 100 mph in passing Prescias vehicle before the fatality.
In the womans arrest report, he told investigators that he was driving about 60 mph, noting Prescia must have been going 80 mph. They were on the phone, and he pleaded with her to slow down because their child was with her, he said.
Little is known about why they were speeding. The crash followed a custody exchange in which Prescia told Hubbard-Jones that she was going to beat him home.
It wasnt clear where they were heading.
Prescia told officers that she drank 24 ounces of an alcoholic seltzer beverage more than three hours before the crash, which occurred at 7:17 p.m. Shes out on a $50,000 bail, but is facing counts of DUI resulting in death, reckless driving and child abuse or neglect.
She is only allowed to go to work and medical appointments but isnt allowed to drive, court records show. She didnt have a listed attorney to speak on her behalf.
Had the motorist Prescia struck, who turned into her path on Rampart, made it to the lane she intended to turn into, she also would have likely died, Metro Sgt. Paul McCullough told the Sun Wednesday morning.
And had Prescia struck the marquee head-on, she couldve suffered her sons fate, McCullough said in calling her incredibly fortunate.
The boy didnt stand a chance of survival, McCullough added.
Driving drunk at 121 mph
McCullough arrived at the scene to find the car split in two.
The dynamics of the collision were disgusting, he said. Discovering that it was an infant child that was involved was quite upsetting, and it had an effect on everyone out there.
In his 23 years as a Las Vegas cop, he cant remember another victim who was that young.
The crash, the fourth fatality investigated by Metros traffic unit in seven days, remained under investigation. On Wednesday morning their priority was to track down dash-cam video that KLAS-TV had obtained and broadcast the previous night, which shows both vehicles speeding down the road before the crash. Hubbard-Jones Mercedes-Benz is seen driving ahead of Prescia.
McCullough, who described the crash as unbelievable, said investigators were still trying to determine the mechanics of it, such as seeing if Prescia applied the brakes.
Data from the car showed that Prescia had accelerated to maximum throttle five seconds prior to the crash, reaching 121 mph a couple seconds before, meaning she was traveling about 175 feet per second. After impact with the other vehicle, her car traveled more than 400 feet, spinning along the way, and hitting the marquee.
Hubbard-Jones said he saw Prescia walk away, while he tried to tend to his boy. The distraught father later told a second TV station he thought Royce was also OK, until he tried to lift his tiny head.
Bothered by the crash, McCullough laments many things, such as how apparently no one called 911 as the cars were speeding down Rampart, and how people with video went to the press instead of to police, or how these crashes keep happening.
Its so frustrating, he said, comparing their pleas to Las Vegas drivers to beating a dead horse.
We seem to have a portion of the community that just doesnt care. And whether it be drunk driving, reckless driving, racing, its just out of control, he added.
"Absolutely devastating"
Andrew Bennett, spokesman for Nevadas Office of Traffic Safety, became emotional when he saw the report early Monday. Any loss of life is devastating, especially when it involves such a young person ... someone who has so much life in front of them, he said.
He described it as absolutely devastating and selfish.
Bennett became a staunch advocate for public safety after his teenage sister was killed by a drunk driver more than a decade ago. He later found a career in that role.
Theres probably only a few times where Ive been moved by emotion, he said about reading about Royces death, even when hes read hundreds of traffic fatality reports. He equates it to the gut punch he felt when 8-year-old Levi Echenique died after an impaired driver hit his familys car as he was heading to school almost two years ago.
Bennett said Nevadas traffic safety office strives for accountability, responsibility and respect for life from drivers.
All three of those were clearly not demonstrated on Sunday evening. And, you know, this little boy was the one who was the victim and everybody else walked away, he said. Thats so unfair to him, its unfair to our community as a whole youll never know what this little boy could have accomplished in his life.
Bennett advised witnesses to reckless driving to immediately call 911 or *NHP (647) when on a highway.
Its Bennetts hope that public memorials like the one honoring Royce on Rampart arent again needed. Mourning an accident victim is painful. Its magnified when its a child.
Strangers are continuing to show up to the accident site to pay their respects. Some simply stare at the growing memorial.
A couple embraced after lighting candles, and another couple showed up to drop off a small stuffed bear and rose. Their kid was playing a soccer game nearby, and they just wanted to pay their respects to the child.
More:
'Unbelievable' Las Vegas car crash that killed baby haunts those investigating - Las Vegas Sun