Rescuer Drives 65 Miles in Futile Hospital Search

Authorities are continuing to sort out a bizarre traffic fatality in which a woman was struck by a tractor-trailer, then driven 65 miles by a passing Japanese tourist in a futile search for a hospital.

“It was just a really bizarre incident,” Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Steve Harney said Tuesday.

Harney said the victim was believed to be from Los Angeles based on her car registration. He said fingerprints were being sent from California in an effort to identify the woman.

The woman had been trying to push her disabled vehicle off Interstate 15 before dawn Monday when a car struck her vehicle. She fled into the path of a tractor-trailer, suffering a crushed chest and massive head injuries.

A passing Japanese tourist picked up the victim and headed for the bright lights of a cluster of hotel-casinos at the California-Nevada state line, 50 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Unable to find a hospital, the good Samaritan drove back to Las Vegas with the victim strapped in the front seat, Harney said.

The tourist, Akila Tanaka of Tokyo, happened on the scene after the truck driver stopped to call authorities, checked on the victim and was setting out warning devices.

Tanaka left his passenger at the scene of the crash and put the injured woman in his car, Harney said.

Tanaka drove 15 miles south to the hotel-casinos, only to find that there was no hospital. He then reversed directions and drove 50 miles to Las Vegas.

He stopped at a motel in Las Vegas and authorities were called. The woman was pronounced dead when authorities arrived.

“Based on everything we’ve seen, she probably would have died anyway,” Harney said Tuesday. “The man tried to do what was right. You have to give him credit; he tried to do something. He was just trying to get her to the nearest civilization.”

Harney said no charges would be filed in the case.