Tragedy Puts Likely End to Nevada Youth Program

Clark County likely will do away with a youth highway pickup program after six teenagers were killed while picking up trash along Interstate 15, county administrators said.

Staff members with the county’s Youth Services Department, Assistant City Manager Michael Alastuey and spokesman Doug Bradford have spent the two weeks since the March 19 accident studying youth programs in Los Angeles and Washington.

“We have stopped the program indefinitely, and most likely we’ll abolish it,” Bradford said Thursday. “We are also taking a look at other areas of safety in the remaining part of youth programs.”

The six teenagers were members of a crew with the juvenile community work program, which gives young misdemeanor offenders alternatives to paying restitution and court fines and fees.

Escorted by a county vehicle with its hazard lights flashing, the teens were working their way along the highway median when they were run over by a van and killed.

The van’s driver, Jessica Williams, 21, is in the Clark County Detention Center on $5 million bail. Her case is scheduled to be presented to a grand jury Tuesday.

The March 19 accident was the first tragedy in the program’s 11-year history, according to a Clark County spokesman.

Bradford said the county is looking at how to make other parts of the program safer. For example, he said, teenagers also paint over graffiti, which many times appears on walls near busy thoroughfares. The youth offenders also pick up trash in parks.

“Other jurisdictions have more specific written instructions on safety measures, like where the cones and barriers are placed,” Bradford said.

Bradford said there were no cones or barriers along the median because the youth crews normally work at a quick pace. The county van that accompanies the crews drives along the shoulder of the freeway to ensure the young workers stay at least 10 feet away from the road.

“The van follows with flashing lights to warn of the potential hazard, to get drivers to slow down,” Bradford said. “[Williams’] van just missed clipping the front of the safety van and may have swerved to avoid it and went down into the berm of the road.”

Bradford said that shortly after the grand jury hearing, county staff members will present Clark County Manager Dale Askew with information about other jurisdictions’ programs and make recommendations.