Left inset: Mark Clayton (KSNV). Right inset: Eric Estrada (GoFundMe). Background: Surveillance footage allegedly shows Mark Clayton driving drunk in a stolen RV just seconds before he slammed into 17-year-old Eric Estrada, who was in a marked crosswalk (KSNV/YouTube).
A Nevada teenager texted his sister "I'm on the way" just minutes before being run over in a crosswalk by a drunk man in a stolen RV who "left him in the street" to die, cops and family say.
"He texted me at 5:41 he was coming to my house," said Azalia Estrada, sister of 17-year-old victim Eric Estrada, in an interview with local NBC affiliate KSNV. "Boom, at six they get a call that he's no longer here."
Eric, who was from Las Vegas, was walking in a marked crosswalk at Lake Mead Boulevard and Lamont Street when Mark Clayton, 55, slammed into him with the stolen RV around 5:48 p.m. and then fled, according to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department press release.
The crosswalk is reportedly near three different schools in the area: Sandy Searles Miller Academy, Lynch Elementary School, and Monaco Middle School.
Clayton was in a 1996 Fleetwood Pace Arrow Motor Home and traveling eastbound on Lake Mead Boulevard when he "failed to yield the right-of-way" to Eric as he was "in the crosswalk," cops say. Surveillance video shows the RV approaching the intersection seconds before the crash happened, KSNV reports.
"The front of the Fleetwood struck the pedestrian, projecting him eastward and onto the roadway," the police press release alleges. "The driver of the Fleetwood fled the collision scene without rendering aid or calling 911."
Azalia Estrada told KSNV, "My brother did not deserve this. My brother deserves justice."
Clayton was "later located and showed signs of impairment," according to police. He was booked on DUI and hit-and-run charges, with a bag of meth also being found inside the RV he was driving, according to KSNV.
Clayton is being held without bail.
"Left him in the street without even checking if he was okay," a GoFundMe for Eric's family says. "Eric was a wonderful kid and a loving brother," the description adds. "No one deserves to die like this, and our family is devastated by this sudden loss."