Basketball game held to remember 2 people killed by reckless drivers

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Two people who left this world at a young age were remembered at a pick-up basketball game in Henderson on Saturday to highlight the dangers of reckless driving.

“She was a great kid, great student, great person, and just was minding her own business and this guy decided to make a bad decision,” Vanessa Aguilar said.

That bad decision was running a red-light killing Aguilar’s 22-year-old sister Savannah in July of 2017.

Aguilar said the man didn’t stop but was eventually caught and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“Unfortunately, a lot of people do those decisions without taking other lives into consideration. And I think that’s the thing, people need to think twice before they do that,” she said.

United by grief, Jason Patchett joined Aguilar on the hardwood floor for a basketball game that was organized to put awareness on reckless driving. It was held at the Black Mountain Recreational Center.

A reckless driver hit Patchett’s son Rex in March of 2022 in front of Mannion Middle School in Henderson as he was walking home from a friend’s house.

“He was always for the underdog. He loved the underdog. And he’d be rooting for his own team of course,” Patchett said.

The basketball teams were made up of Rex’s family and friends and Aguilar’s celebrity friends.

Jay R Beatbox, an entertainer, took part in the game.

“Honestly as a father of a 12-year-old daughter, awareness to that is very important to me. One day my daughter is going to be driving on the road,” Jay R Beatbox said.

Patchett has been committed to increasing the prison time for reckless drivers, visiting the state capitol this legislative session.

Jose Marmolejo was sentenced to six years in prison In January of 2023 for killing Rex while driving nearly 100 miles per hour.

Six years was the maximum he could face under the current statue, a statue that could soon change.

“We set out to stiffen the penalties for reckless driving. This bill stiffens the penalty for reckless driving. We can’t be any more satisfied with that,” Patchett said.

Rex’s Law passed out of Assembly Judiciary Committee Friday and is currently in the assembly waiting for a full vote, where it’s expected to pass. It already passed the state Senate.

The law extends the maximum sentence someone can get for reckless driving from 6 to 10 years if the driver is going 50 mph or more over the speed limit.