LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3) -- It was a deadly weekend on local roads as two people were killed in separate crashes, and alcohol may be to blame in both.
Police say the “Don't drink and drive message” just isn't getting through.
Police say from the start of this year to March 5, they made 200 more DUI arrests than compared with the same time frame last year.
They also say there have been four alcohol-related fatalities in that span. That's down one from last year, but that does not include these most recent cases, including a crash Saturday that killed 15-year-old Robert Brown near Lake Mead and Rainbow.
“This morning I woke up and tried to wake him up for school, and I realized that he wasn't even there,” said his mother, Terry Sumpter. “It's like a nightmare.”
Sumpter said she learned of her son's death on Twitter.
“All they kept saying was rest in peace about him, and my niece called me and asked me if he was home, and I said no,” Sumpter said.
Police say Brown was in the back seat of a Chevy Blazer when the driver, 23-year-old Arturo Castillo, slid off the road and knocked over a light pole.
Brown's hat now sits on what's left of the pole, while Castillo sits behind bars on suspicion of DUI.
Castillo is set to be in court at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The other suspected alcohol-related death occurred Sunday afternoon near Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Nevada Highway Patrol troopers say 31-year-old Rebecca Steeprow of Las Vegas died when her Volkswagen sedan collided with a tractor trailer on I-15 at Cheyenne.
Authorities say there was a strong odor of alcohol coming from the car.
