LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The North Las Vegas Police Department confirms that an intoxicated “family member” was driving the car that went out of control, causing a crash that killed two young children and decapitated one of them.
The children, both girls, were identified Tuesday as 2-year-old Rose Wilmer who died at the scene of the crash, and 3-year-old Taylor Wilmer who died at University Medical Center, according to the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
The collision occurred outside multiple residential communities on Scott Robinson Boulevard and Casa Verde Drive, near the Lone Mountain Road and Clayton Street intersection in North Las Vegas.
Before emergency services arrived, neighbors say they had to act fast when they found one of those lifeless toddlers on the street. Police said the car first sideswiped a wall, trees, and a light pole before ultimately colliding head-on with a palm tree that directly borders the backyard walls of several homes.
Kristian Rogers, 14, said he was on his grandmother’s couch when he heard an “explosion” sound from the back. He and his uncle jumped their backyard wall to help, coming face-to-face with a horrible scene. There was a silver Honda with its front shaped like a “V” after colliding with the palm tree.
The female driver, described as “in her 20s” by police, is suspected of speeding and being under the influence before the crash. Rogers said he was left in shock by what he witnessed when he climbed the wall.
“When I saw that baby, the baby didn’t have a head,” Rogers said outside his grandmother’s house Monday morning with tears in his eyes. “When the firefighters came, when they took (the driver) out of the car, she stepped on the baby’s leg without even caring. Like, she just got out of the car, her nose was busted. I think she was more worried about herself than the baby.”
Other nearby neighbors, like Davis Mallory, say the palm tree is what prevented the car from driving directly through their backyard walls and into their homes. Mallory pointed out a white box spray painted on the road where he said one of the toddler’s bodies was found, just inches from his wall.
“Little black kid too. I mean, that kid had to have been no more than one or two years old. This is a very little kid. This is a small child. Probably no bigger than my arm,” Mallory said outside his home. “From my point of view, that van had to have a least been doing about 50 or 60 mph.
The posted speed limit on this stretch of road is 35 mph.
After a brief press conference Monday afternoon, Public Information Officer Alex Cuevas with North Las Vegas Police Department confirmed to 8 News Now that both toddlers were girls and in “adult seatbelts,” which he attributes to the child’s decapitation. That toddler was pronounced deceased on the scene while the other died at the hospital.
Cuevas confirmed the other two adult passengers are currently in the hospital in serious condition. One of these adults is the driver and is described as a “family member” to the toddlers.
While Cuevas confirms more information will be released in the coming weeks, neighbors said they are traumatized by what they saw Sunday night.
“A lot of this stuff right here could’ve been avoided,” Mallory said. “The kids didn’t stand a chance.”
“I couldn’t eat. I was just traumatized. I was shaking because that baby looked like it was two years old, and I have a two-year-old sister, and I wouldn’t want that to happen to her,” Rogers said.
Cuevas said he could not comment on the specific relationship between the vehicle’s occupants and the potential charges the driver may face once booked into custody. A news release from early Monday morning urged drivers “traveling with children to protect them by making sure each child is secure in the correct car seat for their age, height and weight” and to consider the dangers of driving while impaired.
