Las Vegas’ Paris Casino Garage Scene of Fatal DUI Crash, Police Reveal

Posted on: November 18, 2020, 12:15h. 

Last updated on: November 18, 2020, 11:52h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A 43-year-old woman has died from her injuries after the SUV she was in crashed into a wall last week at the Paris Hotel & Casino parking garage located on the Las Vegas Strip.

The driver was charged
Traffic goes by the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. A fatal accident took place in the casino’s parking garage. (Image: Booking.com)

Local TV station, KLAS, reported on Tuesday that Veronica Acosta was a passenger in the 2019 Chevrolet Trailblazer when the accident took place at about 10:15 pm on Thursday. Acosta resided in Riverside, Calif.

In total, three passengers in the SUV required treatment at Sunrise Hospital for injuries from the crash. Physicians tried to save Acosta, but she died Sunday from “blunt force injury to the chest” suffered in the collision, KLAS said, based on a report from the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police later arrested the driver of the SUV for allegedly driving under the influence, KLAS said. He was identified as Scott Thomas, age 39, of Montclair, Calif., KTNV, another Las Vegas TV station, reported.

It was unclear how fast the SUV was traveling inside the garage. The collision was ruled an accident by Metro police, KLAS said. It took place on the garage’s fifth floor.

Drunk Driving More Common Near Casinos

The accident comes a decade after a 2010 study published in the Journal of Health Economics, which stated that  “there is a strong link between the presence of a casino in a county and the number of alcohol-related fatal traffic accidents.”

In recent years, numerous DUI arrests have been made after serious accidents throughout southern Nevada.

In September, Las Vegas real estate broker Scott Gragson was sentenced to between eight and 20 years in prison for a fatal crash at The Ridges in Summerlin. A mother of three was killed and three others were injured, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Gragson pleaded guilty to driving under the influence.

Casino Parking Garages at Risk for Violent Crimes

Nationwide, casino parking garages were at risk for violent crimes, according to a September report from Casino.org. Multiple gaming property garages were the scenes of shootings or robberies in recent months, the report said.

In September, Las Vegas Metro police said they were looking for a robbery suspect who had been targeting elderly people in casino parking lots or garages, KVVU, another local TV station, reported. The bandit had pushed the victims to the ground before snatching their credit or debit cards.

A large number of parked cars inside casino garages can make a garage darker by blocking light, Brad Bonnell, a principal of the Hotel Security Group, has also told Casino.org.

Paris Las Vegas Site Outage

In an unrelated incident, the Paris Las Vegas was the scene of a power outage last month that left many guests and players in the dark for several hours. The Oct. 22 outage was later found to have been caused by rodents damaging a nearby electrical transfer switch, according to Nevada news reports.

Many of the guests were frustrated and angry by the hotel-casino’s response to the outage, based on postings on Casino.org and other online sites.