LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A suspected impaired driver was traveling nearly 80 mph down the Las Vegas Strip when she collided with another car, killing its driver, Las Vegas Metro police said.
The speed limit in the area is 30 mph, police said. The driver, Jamara Williams, 38, was going 78 mph before the crash Thursday morning, police said.
Williams faces charges of DUI resulting in death, DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm, and two counts of reckless driving, records showed.
Around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, police said the two cars collided in front of Resorts World. The unregistered BMW collided with another car, which was attempting to turn into Resorts World, police said.
An officer reported seeing a deceased person in one car and heard a person in another car, a report said.
The driver of the BMW, identified as Williams, was restrained in the driver’s seat of the car, police said. She initially gave officers a fake name, they said.
Officers took Williams to UMC hospital, suspecting she was driving impaired, they said.
Williams “admitted to smoking marijuana” at a friend’s house before the crash, she said.
“The BMW accelerated to 78 mph one-half second before the airbags deployed,” police said. “The vehicle was traveling at 71 mph when the ACM ‘woke up’ and the airbags deployed.”
The driver of the Nissan, 50-year-old Bisheba Gaines, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bail was not set in the case as Williams was on probation for a prior felony charge, records showed.
Northbound and southbound Las Vegas Boulevard were closed for several hours after the crash.