A boat that was being towed down Highway 50 continued hundreds of yards down the Interstate after a collision knocked it loose. NHP photo
The driver in a collision that killed two people and critically injured three on Tuesday is in custody in Carson City after he was arrested on a charge of felony reckless driving.
Roney Gonzalez-Otazo, 25, was taken into custody on Tuesday and is also being held on charges of operating an unsafe vehicle, failure to obey a stoplight, and driving without a license.
Gonzalez-Otazo was driving a Ford F-350 pulling a large boat down Highway 50 when he failed to stop at a red light, causing an eight-car crash. The NHP confirmed they're looking at possible brake failure, according to various media reports.
First responders from Carson City and Douglas County responded to the 12:45 p.m. collision at Highway 395 where 50 meets Interstate 580.
Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Charles Caster said the preliminary investigation showed the Ford driver was eastbound on 50 when the collision occurred.
The Ford ran into a Chevrolet Silverado that is believed to be the vehicle in which both people died and that closed the intersection for nearly five hours.
They would be the second and third people to have died at the intersection in the last two weeks after a Gardnerville man was struck and killed by an alleged hit and run driver Oct. 28.
Three ambulance helicopters were required to transport the critically injured to area hospitals.
The collision caused the boat to disconnect from the Ford and it continued a quarter-mile down the freeway before it stopped on its own.
To reopen the freeway, the Nevada Department of Transportation had to use front-loaders to clear the wreckage, which was strewn across the scene. Caster said Wednesday morning that a crane had to be called in to remove the boat.
Traffic started trickling through the intersection at around 4 p.m.
That was around the same time that a collision south of the Centerville roundabout resulted in a motorist being thrown from a vehicle.
Another ambulance helicopter landed at the roundabout to transport that person for treatment.
The intersection is a bottleneck between Carson City and Minden, with the exception of a set of side streets completed in recent years connecting Stewart via Topsy Way.