A suspected drunk driver allegedly hit and killed a Marine Corps veteran in Las Vegas, then bailed and fled the United States.
Yuri Trofim, 40, is accused of crashing his Ram 1500 pickup truck into Carson Heath, 55, on August 26th. The 55-year-old was riding a Yamaha motorcycle at the time of the crash, which occurred near Red Rock Canyon around 11 p.m. National Conservation Area, located about 27 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip. 8 Current news.
Paramedics arrived at the crash scene and began life-saving measures on Heath, but the husband, father, and Marine Corps veteran was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Nevada Highway Patrol investigated the scene and found parts from a Ram 1500, but the pickup truck was nowhere to be found.
The next morning, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department contacted the Nevada Highway Patrol to report a crash involving a Ram 1500 approximately 10 miles from the Strip. KSNV reported.
Police told the program that after a witness saw the truck stuck on the curb and the driver, later identified as Trofim, ran off the road and became stranded. , said he was following the truck.
Trofim was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and booked into the Clark County Jail.
After his arrest, police matched car parts found at the accident scene to Trofim's Ram 1500.
He was then charged with driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs and reckless driving resulting in death, failure to stop in a fatal accident, failure to render aid in a motor vehicle accident, failure to reduce speed or use reasonable care, and negligence. was indicted for a crime. According to court records obtained by KSNV, the vehicle was traveling on the right half of the roadway.
The DUI suspect then appeared before a “provisional judge” (an unelected judge sitting on his behalf) on August 28th. 8 News Now reported.
The judge set Trofim on $10,000 bail, required him to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet and prohibited him from driving.
According to 8 News Now, Trofim paid a bail bondsman $1,500 to secure bail.
However, Trofim was nowhere to be found at his arraignment on September 3, and his lawyer appeared in his place and entered a not guilty plea.
Prosecutor Yu Meng said in court Tuesday that Trofim fled the United States after the fatal crash in August and now appears to be back in his native Moldova, about 6,000 miles from Las Vegas.
“We have been searching for him ever since we found out last week that he was no longer here,” Meng said.
Trofim has dual citizenship and lived in Las Vegas for many years before he allegedly killed Heath.
Prosecutors later discovered that Trofim allegedly put his Las Vegas home on the market a few days after the hit-and-run incident.
Trofim's alcohol monitoring bracelet, which he was required to wear by a judge, last went off on August 31 at Los Angeles International Airport, according to court records.
The device reportedly did not have GPS capabilities and did not track his movements.
Moldova does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, and the country's “constitution does not permit the extradition of its citizens.” According to the State Department.
The Eastern European country's Attorney General's Office handles requests for international legal assistance at its discretion during the pre-trial stage, while Moldova's Ministry of Justice handles the intra-trial and correctional stages.
However, there are no records of recent extradition from Moldova to the United States.
A Las Vegas Judicial Court judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest on Tuesday, the newspaper said.
But Ms Heath's family is furious that the man who allegedly killed her husband and father while driving drunk is suspected of fleeing the United States.
“How is this person not a flight risk in the eyes of any judge?” Heath's cousin, Paula Donegan, told 8 News Now on Tuesday.
