Man taking Ambien charged after killing pedestrian
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- Criminal charges have been filed against the man who hit and killed 71-year-old Robert Levesque on May 25, 2012, as he was walking on a sidewalk in Henderson.
The incident happened at about 7 a.m. on Hampton Road, near Sun City Drive.
The Clark County District Attorney's office says that the driver of the car, 79-year-old Chester Francis Budd, was under the influence of a controlled substance Zolpidem.
Zolpidem is also known as Ambien.
According to paperwork released by the DA, Budd told police that he did not know what had happened and that he did not remember driving on the sidewalk or striking the pedestrian.
Budd had just left Sun City Anthem Country Club after a tennis match and was driving westbound on Hampton Road when he left the roadway and struck Levesque on the sidewalk from behind.
He voluntarily submitted to blood and breath testing at the scene and later admitted himself to St. Rose Siena Hospital to have himself checked for possible stroke or heart-attack symptoms.
Subsequent testing of Budd's blood showed that he had 100ng/mL of Zolpidem in his blood within two hours of driving or being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle.
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