Las Vegas man who repainted truck after deadly hit-and-run drove at least 60 miles per hour during crash: police
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Las Vegas man accused of attempting to repaint his truck after running a red light and killing a pedestrian in a hit-and-run crash was driving at least 60 miles per hour when the crash occurred, police documents said.
He was released almost immediately after he was arrested last week.
On Jan. 28, at around 3:40 p.m., witnesses said a black GMC pick-up truck driving east on Lake Mead Boulevard hit the back of another car before continuing to drive toward Tonopah Drive.
The driver of the other vehicle told police she did not see the driver of the truck before they drove away, according to a report.
The truck continued driving east before running a red light at the intersection of Lake Mead and Tonopah, hitting a pedestrian before driving away.
Police later identified the pedestrian as 34-year-old Adrian Duerson. Medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.
A witness told police she was stopped at the intersection of Tonopah and Lake Mead when the black truck “flew” by her. A second witness said the truck was “avoiding multiple stopped vehicles by swerving,” before hitting Duerson, the report stated.
Speed analysis of the roadway showed the truck was traveling at a minimum speed of 62 miles per hour, 17 miles per hour over the posted speed limit of 45, according to the report.
At the address registered to the truck, police spoke with a woman who said her son, Anthony Lopez-Meza, was the primary driver of the truck, but said she had not seen him since that morning, the report stated.
Lopez-Meza’s mother tried calling him several times with detectives, but Lopez-Meza did not answer. The next day, Lopez-Meza’s boss told police he “no-call, no-showed” to work.
Police went to a previous owner’s address for the truck, and there, found a GMC truck that had been partially spray-painted yellow in the alley behind the apartment, according to the report.
The truck still smelled of fresh paint, was partially covered by a vehicle cover, and had the rear license plate removed from it, the report stated.
The vehicle identification number of the truck matched the one registered to the license plate of the black truck involved in the hit-and-run, police documents said.
When police found the truck, Metro posted a photo on social media with the caption “You thought by changing the color of the vehicle we wouldn’t find you?!”
At that point, police had not located Lopez-Meza, just his truck.
A resident of the apartment told police that Lopez-Meza showed up at his home the night before with the truck and “appeared nervous,” according to the report. The relationship between Lopez-Meza and the resident was not made clear in the report.
When he asked Lopez-Meza what happened, he said Lopez-Meza told him he was “done for” because he hit someone while someone else was “chasing” him, the report stated.
The resident told police that Lopez-Meza had yellow spray paint with him and began to paint the truck, according to the report.
Las Vegas police arrested Lopez-Meza on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 8 News Now first reported last week.
He was granted an own recognizance walkthrough, meaning while he was technically arrested, his photo was taken and he was released without having to post bail. A judge ordered him to stay out of trouble.
Lopez-Meza faces charges of reckless driving resulting in death, duty to stop at the scene of an accident, destroying/concealing evidence, and driving without a driver’s license.
His next court appearance is scheduled for April 30.
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