Two people are dead, including an off-duty police officer, after a wrong-way crash that shut down northbound Interstate 15 northeast of Las Vegas Thursday morning, authorities said.
The collision was reported around 12:26 a.m. on I-15 northbound at mile marker 78, about 25 miles north of the Speedway Boulevard exit, said Trooper Shawn Haggstrom with Nevada State Police.
Investigators believe a wrong-way driver was going south in the northbound travel lanes and got into a crash with at least one other vehicle.
Two men were pronounced dead at the scene, Haggstrom said in a statement. A woman was also transported via Mercy Air with non-life-threatening injuries.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police identified one of the men killed as 29-year-old Colton Pulsipher, an officer with the traffic bureau’s Tourist Safety Division.
Pulsipher was heading home in his private vehicle after his shift when he was hit by the wrong-way driver, according to LVMPD. He joined the department in 2017 and is survived by his wife and three children.
LVMPD says those looking to help the officer’s family during this time of tragedy can donate at the organization’s Behind the Blue fundraiser.
Officials and law enforcement agencies have shared their condolences on the news of Pulsipher’s death.
“This is a tragic, heartbreaking loss,” Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, the former Clark County sheriff who oversaw LVMPD, wrote in a post to social media. “Please join Donna and me in praying for Officer Pulsipher’s family and loved ones.”
“The Nevada State Police extends our heartfelt condolences and prayers to our LVMPD brothers and sisters and the family of Officer Pulsipher,” the agency wrote.
All northbound lanes for I-15 are closed at the junction with U.S. 93, and it’s unclear when they will reopen.
