How the Las Vegas Strip Responded to its Own Vehicle-Ramming Attack

How the Las Vegas Strip Responded to its Own Vehicle-Ramming Attack.

Costfoto / NurPhoto / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

A day after the deadliest vehicle-ramming attack in the US occurred in New Orleans, it’s worth revisiting how Las Vegas responded to its own vehicle-ramming attack nine years ago.

Cement bollards, installed in response to a December 2015 vehicle-ramming attack near Planet Hollywood, can be seen lining both sides of the Las Vegas Strip in this photograph. (Image: kimley-horn.com)

On Dec. 20, 2015, a woman drove her 1996 Oldsmobile sedan onto the sidewalk near Paris Las Vegas, killing 32-year-old Arizona tourist Jessica Valenzuela and injuring 37 others.

In response, Clark County installed cement bollards along the length of the Las Vegas Strip, from the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign north to Sahara Avenue.

The 5,600 crash-rated bollards, in addition to 640 linear feet of crash-rated post and cable protection and 1,635 linear feet of concrete crash wall, were installed between 2017 and 2019, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $22 million.

According to Kimley-Horn, the North Carolina engineering consulting firm that designed the bollards, they provide “over eight total miles of pedestrian protection on this corridor.”

The bollards were strategically placed to protect the Strip’s busiest intersections. However, they do not eliminate every conceivable point where a vehicle might access the sidewalk especially in areas where driveways or other access points exist.

The SuspectLakeisha Holloway appears in her 2015 mug shot. (Image: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)

The alleged driver was Lakeisha Holloway, a 24-year-old Portland, Ore. resident who had been living out of her car in Las Vegas for about a week before the incident.

She told police at the time that she was “hurting and wanted others to feel pain.” Holloway’s 3-year-old daughter was in the car during the incident but was not injured.

Prosecutors have described Holloway as above Nevada s legal limit for marijuana at the time (2 nanograms per milliliter of blood for THC or 5 nanograms per milliliter of THC metabolite).

She was charged with 71 counts, including murder with use of a deadly weapon, child abuse, attempted murder, and leaving the scene of an accident. However, her case was complicated by mental health issues that kept her confined to a state psychiatric hospital.

In March 2021, she was deemed competent to stand trial. In May 2023, Holloway, representing herself and requesting a different public defender, rejected a plea bargain that would have avoided trial.

Her trial is currently scheduled to begin in March, nearly 10 years after her alleged crime.

 

 

Article Sources
Microsoft Ad Tech Platform Xandr Used to Track Gamblers editorial policy.
  1. Carl Reiner Loved Making People Laugh, But Las Vegas Couldn’t Woo Him or Mel Brooks

Compare Accounts
×
Macau’s Success Depends on Reinvestment, Asserts Galaxy Executive
Provider
Name
Description
MGM Wins Cosmo Purchase Regulatory Approval, BetMGM to Be Sportsbook at Venue  NagaCorp Remains Committed to $300M Casino in Remote Vladivostok Russia  National Council on Problem Gambling to Take 1-800-GAMBLER Nationwide  Hawaii Online Sports Betting Bills Face Long Odds  Judge Tosses Case Questioning Texas Tribe’s Sovereign Immunity Due to ‘Illegal Gaming’  Las Vegas Man Arrested for Making Antisemitic Threats to Senator  Ohio Officials to Consider SPIRE Institute’s Sports Betting Applications  Las Vegas Man Arrested for Making Antisemitic Threats to Senator  Eldorado Crushed by Shorts, Tumbles to Lowest Post-Caesars Announcement Levels, Bears Bashing Others  Michigan Sports Betting Going Live Next Week, But Only at Detroit Casinos