Police release new details of fatal I-15 road-rage crash

ST. GEORGE — Police have identified 69-year-old Michael Prinaris, of Henderson, Nevada, as the victim of a fatal crash on Interstate 15 in Nevada Sunday; authorities also released details about the alleged incident of road rage that led to the deadly crash.

The incident started just before 1 p.m. PDT Sunday south of mile marker 93 on I-15 near Moapa, Nevada.

A 35-year-old man driving a silver Jeep SUV was traveling south on I-15 in a reckless manner in the inside lane, according to a news release issued by Nevada Highway Patrol.

According to witness statements, the drivers of the Jeep, a black BMW M5 ahead of the Jeep, and a black Cadillac Escalade were engaging in reckless driving behavior due to road rage. At one point during the road-rage incident, a passenger in the Cadillac threw a bottle at the Jeep, the news release states.

The driver of the Jeep attempted to pass the BMW by traveling in the inside median, which is a dirt shoulder, when the right side of the Jeep struck the left side of the BMW, according to NHP.

The BMW went southwest across the travel lanes and into the south dirt shoulder where it struck an embankment, and the Jeep re-entered the inside southbound lane.

While steering the Jeep to the left, the driver lost control of the vehicle, causing the SUV to rotate counterclockwise and travel across the median into the northbound lanes.

At the same time, Prinaris was northbound in a red Mini Cooper coupe in the middle lane. The driver of a silver Nissan Pathfinder SUV was also northbound behind the Mini Cooper in the outside lane.

The Mini Cooper hit head-on the right side of the Jeep. The Nissan SUV then struck the right front end of the Mini Cooper, the news release states.

Medical responders arrived and pronounced Prinaris dead at the scene.

The 35-year-old male driver of the Jeep was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. He is currently in stable condition and has been booked in absentia for felony reckless driving with death, according to the news release. His identity has not yet been released by police, as he remains in the hospital.

The 73-year-old man driving the Nissan and his 73-year-old female passenger were transported to the hospital with non-incapacitating injuries.

The 24-year-old man driving the BMW, Nan Ying, suffered no injuries and was booked into the Clark County Detention Center for misdemeanor reckless driving.

Jincheng Sun, the 19-year-old man driving the Cadillac, was also booked into jail for misdemeanor reckless driving. His passenger, the 20-year-old man who threw the bottle at the Jeep, was jailed for littering.

The incident left northbound lanes in the area of the crash closed for several hours into Sunday night, blocking traffic behind it.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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