LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A three-vehicle crash involving a wrong-way driver on the 215 Beltway killed two and injured three others early Sunday morning, State Police said.
Both drivers who were killed in the crash have been identified. Family members identified 48-year-old Jose Cutberto Tabares-Acosta as the driver of the Chevrolet pickup. Tabares was a former 8 News Now employee.
Carlos Gomez has been attempting to grasp the tragedy of his close friends of two decades. Jose C. Tabares, 48, once an 8 News Now sales employee, and his wife Jessica Tabares, the president of a marketing company.
“I don’t dance,” Gomez said. “But they love to dance. Go in there, salsa, bachata, and everything. They’re really good at it.”
Gomez is Vice President of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, where the couple was considered family. For the past two days, the Latin community has been grieving.
“If I needed anything, not related to work, any day, anything, advice, I’d call him up, and he always responded. No matter what day it is or what’s going on.”
The Clark County coroner’s office identified the driver of the Cadillac as 39-year-old Quinyana Lonyae Long. No residence was given and the cause of her death is still pending.
The crash happened at about 2:41 a.m. when the driver of a white Cadillac car was traveling south in the northbound lanes of the beltway, south of South Town Center Drive, State Police said in a news release.
The Cadillac, in the far left lane, hit a red Chevrolet pickup head-on, and as the vehicles rotated counterclockwise, a black Nissan traveling in the middle lane struck the pickup, according to the release.
The driver of the Cadillac, a woman, was pronounced dead at the scene. Whether she was driving impaired is not known “at this time,” State Police said.
The two other vehicles each had a man driving and a woman as a passenger. The man driving the pickup also was pronounced dead at the scene; the driver of Nissan, his female passenger, and the female passenger in the pickup were taken to University Medical Center.
The woman in the pickup had serious injuries, police said. The two from the Nissan had moderate injuries.
Northbound beltway traffic was closed for about eight hours as the crash, the eighth fatal in the Highway Patrol’s Southern Command this year, was being investigated, with vehicles being diverted to West Flamingo Road, the release said.
The State Police Highway Patrol’s Southern Command said on Twitter at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday that all travel lanes on the 215 Beltway had been reopened.
A GoFundMe campaign to help support the families of Jose and Jessica Tabares is available here.