Las Vegas man charged with felony DUI in gated-community crash

Tue, Jun 4, 2019 (8:32 p.m.)

Behind the wheel of his Range Rover, Scott Gragson, 53, led a caravan of vehicles into a gated-community near Flamingo Road in west Las Vegas.

The group had just left a golf charity outing late Thursday afternoon and were heading to an after-party at Gragson’s house in The Ridges, according to Metro Police.

Gragson’s breath already smelled of alcohol and he was combative, according to an arrest report released today by police.

Moments later, his SUV would veer off the road and rip through some trees, throwing three of his four passengers from the vehicle, killing one of them, police said.

On Tuesday, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office formally charged Gragson with three felony counts each of DUI and reckless driving.

“We have all seen the stories about these deadly crashes recently,” District Attorney Steve Wolfson in a news release. “The threat of punishment is apparently not strong enough to get people’s attention.”

At the gate, shortly before the 4:48 p.m. crash, Gragson asked the security guard to waive his visitors’ check-in, but the woman pushed back, police said.

Gragson made his way in, but berated the gatekeeper, police said. Then he floored it, dashing through the 25-mph limit at a “high rate of speed,” heading south on Granite Ridge Drive.

The crash killed a 36-year-old woman, and sent two others to the hospital, one who was in intensive care unit with a skull fracture, police said.

Gragson failed multiple sobriety tests, police said. He admitted to drinking up to five mixed drinks and beer at the golf event, noting he stopped drinking more than two hours before the crash.

Video and audio from the gate captured the confrontation, police said.

Gragson posted a $250,000 bond Friday, Las Vegas Justice Court records show. The conditions of his release included surrendering his passport and wearing a gadget that monitors alcohol consumption.

“We take these cases extremely seriously,” Wolfson said in the release. “We will be tougher than ever in prosecuting those who choose to drive drunk. However, by the time the problem gets to us, the damage is already done.”

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