Just moments after the driver of a late-model Nissan Frontier pickup lost control and plowed into three vehicles at the Carlotta Plaza on Monday, business owner DJ Mills rushed outside to see what happened.
Mills, owner of Quality Signs, located at 1201 S. Highway 160, quickly learned that two of his work trucks sustained major front-end damage as a result of the collision.
Both were inoperable.
Mills’ main concern was the condition of the young male driver, who was mechanically entrapped inside the vehicle.
“I was inside the store working and I came out and I just saw the guy and the truck and said, oh my gosh,” Mills said. “I was just hoping that he was okay. He started moving around in the truck and we called 911, who got here in just a couple of minutes. I’m just grateful to God that he is OK.”
Before the emergency crews arrived on scene, Mills and several others physically supported the vehicle in place out of fear it might roll over with the driver still inside.
“We were not sure whether it would tumble onto the roof,” he said. “We just kept the truck still until the emergency crews got here.”
Regarding the loss of his two work trucks, Mills appeared to take everything in stride.
“Fortunately I have another truck that I can work out of but really, I’m just focused on the fact that he seems to be okay,” he said. “I’ll be okay because all this is temporary.”
Pahrump resident Gisela Thoma said she was directly behind the driver at the time of the collision.
She said the driver may have been exceeding the speed limit when the crash occurred.
“I was about 100 yards behind him and I first saw a big cloud of dust so I thought he hit a curb because he was going really fast,” she said. “I tried to avoid hitting him so I went in the opposite lanes and thank God there was no traffic coming at me at the time. This driver was speeding big time, because I was right behind him and he was not going 35 miles per hour, which is the speed limit right there.”