Michigan trooper killed on Interstate 15

LAS VEGAS - A Michigan state trooper was killed when a car struck her as she stood on Interstate 15, then threw her into another travel lane, where she was hit by two more cars.

Dana Marie VanAndel, 35, was dead at the scene of the 8:45 p.m. accident Friday.

''She was just standing in the travel lane,'' Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Alan Davidson said Saturday.

VanAndel was walking east across southbound I-15 just north of the Flamingo Road exit ramp near the Las Vegas Strip when she was struck, the NHP said.

After a vehicle traveling about 55 mph in the third lane of traffic from the median struck the woman, her body was thrown into the air, traveled several feet and landed in the second lane from the median, troopers said.

The woman was sitting upright when another vehicle rolled over her and dragged her south.

''It appears more vehicles just kept rolling over her and dragging her farther and farther,'' Sgt. Steve Cavrales said.

A purse and broken mirror found where the woman was first struck were about 225 feet from where her body came to rest, Cavrales said.

Authorities needed more than an hour to determine the sex of the pedestrian.

''There are no broken-down vehicles on the shoulders of the road, so we don't know where she came from,'' Cavrales said.

Only one of the several drivers of vehicles that hit or rolled over the woman stayed at the scene to talk to authorities. The drivers will not face any charges since the accident was due to pedestrian error, Davidson said.

The accident backed up southbound interstate traffic for hours.

Michigan State Police said VanAndel, a 14-year veteran, had been vacationing with her family in Las Vegas.

She is survived by her husband, Jack VanAndel, a deputy with the Muskegon County Sheriff's Department, and a son, Troy Dailey, of Hastings, Mich.