Kevin Clifford/Nevada Appeal Carson City firefighters and sheriff's deputies respond to a hit-and-run scene Friday in Mills Park across from Carson High School. Police say three teens involved in the accident will likely be charged and that alcohol was present at the scene.
Four teens were charged Friday afternoon in an alcohol-related crash that destroyed a borrowed car and tore up curbs and lawn at Mills Park. The teens suffered minor injuries.
Deputy Jarrod Adams said the incident happened about 3 p.m. at the east entrance of Mills Park near Seely Loop when a 16-year-old driver with two 15-year-old passengers tried to leave the park after hitting a parked car.
"I hope they don't just let them go," an irate Edwina Weirsma of Carson City said after she narrowly avoided a collision with the teens.
Weirsma said she was backing out of a parking space near the Seely Loop entrance to the park when she heard a car honk behind her. When she looked, she saw a man standing in the road trying to stop a black and gray primer Eagle Talon from speeding out of the lot.
Lori Nason of Gardnerville was taking her visiting nephews around town when she saw the vehicle speeding through the lot.
"He must have been doing 25 almost 30 (mph) when he nailed the curb," Nason said.
The car then careened over the center median at the Seely Loop entrance the impact ripping the right front tire and axle from the vehicle. Nason said the vehicle was airborne before landing on the grass, taking down a sapling and stopping inches from a ravine next to the Wungnema Rock House.
Nason, a nurse, said she was running to offer aid when she saw two boys sprint from the vehicle. Her nephews said a girl in a skirt also ran from the vehicle. The boys were apprehended by police a few blocks to the west. The girl was located at her home later in the afternoon.
According to Carson City Sheriff's Deputy Jarrod Adams, the vehicle was loaned to the driver by a classmate who was watching graduation practice across the street.
The vehicle's owner only had the car two weeks.
Adams said although the owner was not involved in the accident, during the investigation it was discovered he had been drinking and be was cited for minor consuming.
The driver was charged with drunken driving, hit and run, leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving.
The male passenger was arrested for minor consuming.
The female was cited and released at the hospital for minor consuming.
Parts of the totaled vehicle littered the road along with Natural Light beer cans matching half-finished beers found in the car.
With school just breaking for the summer an hour before the accident, the park across the street from Carson High School quickly filled with teenagers.
"They really need to be made an example of," Weirsma said. "This nonsense needs to stop."
- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.