Accident at Koval Lane

LAS VEGAS - Two people were hospitalized
following an accident at Koval Lane near Harmon
Avenue Monday morning.


The accident happened shortly after 2 a.m. Police
say the victims, 27-year-old Chris Leichtweiss, who
was driving, and 19-year-old Tiffany Nelson, who was a passenger, were riding their moped
southbound on Koval, when a vehicle rear-ended
them.


The impact sent the moped forward approximately
300 to 500 feet and caused Leichtweiss and Nelson
to become separated from the bike.

"The moped got crushed pretty bad. It is smushed
up like an accordion, if you go and look at it. It is
pretty bad," Metro Police Sgt. Richard Strader said.


The victims were taken to University Medical Center
with critical injuries. Police arrested the driver of the
vehicle, identified as 31-year-old Matthew Thompson, on suspicion of driving under the
influence.


Frederick Cartwright is owner of Scooter Stop and
knows the small vehicles have benefits.


"They do 30 to 40 miles an hour. 100 miles a gallon
per tank." Cartwright said.

Scooters have always been popular in Europe, and
now people in southern Nevada are seeing more of
them on the road.


"You see them all the time now. There's like three or
four shops that just opened up in the past year,"
Cartwright said.

Cartwright offers words of warning.
"People are used to seeing cars coming at them.
When they look down the street, they don't see a
moped. They see a blank street," he said.


He tells his customers that riding after dark isn't
recommended. "If I did, I'd be awful careful. Like I say, I'd wear
one of those reflective vests and definitely a
helmet," Cartwright said.


However, police that doesn't seem to be the case in
this crash.
"It doesn't appear that they had helmets on, but I don't think that would have really helped very
much in a rear-end collision of this magnitude." Sgt.
Strader said.


Officers closed Koval in both directions between
Harmon and Flamingo Road for hours during Metro
Police's investigation.