With school still out until next week, scores of people were up the mountain -- making the popular meadow sledding area jam packed. News 3's Sandra Gonzalez went to find out if children sledding and parents are putting safety ahead of fun.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV & MyNews3) — Metro police continue investigating the death of 11 year old Vanesa Lara who died after a sledding accident in Lee Canyon. One day later, sledders still packed the Lee Meadows play area where the incident happened.
Police are urging sledders to use helmets, but not many children were wearing them on Wednesday.
But the McDonald children were. And they didn’t mind at all.
“On a scale of 1-10, 10 being super safe, I’d say it's a 5, probably a 5. I’d say our kids a 6 or 7,” said their mother, Debbie McDonald.
She’s glad her children’s heads are protected, though they are the exception.
“There's bumps here and they hit the bump and they catch air and when they land sometimes they don't land right on the board. Of course they can also knock each other down. I’ve seen a lot of that,” McDonald said.
Sergeant Andy LeGrow of Metro says the snow is hard packed right now. He believes the helmet would provide great protection.
“It is hard. It is not snow; white, fluffy just hit the ground type of snow. You hit this; you're going to feel this. You’re probably going to hurt yourself pretty good by doing so,” LeGrow said.
In October, Clark County installed a metal fence right across the main slope where people use sleds, cutting the slope danger down.
