LAS VEGAS -- The woman killed Thursday while crossing a street near Decatur and Lake Mead boulevards happened to be the mother of a Channel 8 employee. A truck hit and killed 83-year-old Doris Stoehr as she tried to cross seven lanes of traffic.
Stoehr lived at the Las Vegas Manor Apartments with hundreds of other seniors. For years, seniors, in that complex, have asked the city to install a crosswalk. Most seniors cross near the complex to catch the bus or go to the bank. Some seniors say it is difficult for them to walk to the nearest crosswalk.
"I have gone down to Lake Mead to go across both ways, but either way, it's a lot of walking and my legs aren't that good," said 70-year-old Sandra Gain.
Las Vegas City Councilman Ricki Barlow said Stoehr was one of the more vocal seniors on the crosswalk issue. Little did she know, she would never live to see it happen.
Peggy Harvey said Doris Stoehr was a sweet woman who would go out of her way to help residents living in the complex. Harvey is legally blind and often relies on others to help her cross the busy street.
"I can't see the cars coming. I hear them but I don't see them," Harvey said.
Harvey believes the city turned a blind eye to the dozens of seniors at the Las Vegas Manor fighting for a crosswalk.
Even after years of requests, Stoehr never gave up.
"She was one of a handful of women who approached me and requested a crosswalk last summer and I had city staff come out and evaluate whether or not it meet the specs for a crosswalk and it did," Barlow said.
The crosswalk is scheduled to done in about three months.
Doris Stoehr was struck and killed by a truck Thursday.
Flowers left at the site of Doris Stoehr's death.
