A woman fighting with her boyfriend fatally struck him with her SUV after he tried to stop her from backing out of their southwest valley driveway, Las Vegas police said.
Officers arrested Sounilak Ouchlaeun, 33, of Las Vegas in connection with the death of Conrado Mendoza. The two lived together in the 4300 block of Mammoth Creek Drive, near Flamingo Road and Buffalo Drive.
Ouchlaeun is being held at the Clark County Detention Center and faces charges of murder with a deadly weapon, her 2010 Toyota Venza.
According to police reports, Mendoza worked as a card dealer at the Rio resort with Ouchlaeun. The two have been together since May 2011. They had been drinking and doing tequila shots with a friend, Valan Bengson.
Bengson called 911 and reported that Mendoza had been run over.
At one point, Mendoza accused Ouchlaeun of cheating with a co-worker, according to police.
Bengson told homicide investigators that the couple had been arguing with each other throughout the house and that Mendoza put a hole in one of the kitchen cabinets with his fist, which angered Ouchlaeun.
Bengson told police Mendoza was just about to go to sleep when Ouchlaeun followed him into the bedroom. The fighting escalated, and Bengson tried to stop it.
Ouchlaeun, through a Laotian interpreter, told investigators after her arrest that she left the house and got into her SUV because, although she has seen Mendoza angry before, she had never seen it "to this extent." She told police she was leaving so that Mendoza would "cool down."
She said he tried to hit her in the head, but she managed to block him with her arm.
While Ouchlaeun was pulling out of the driveway, Bengson said he told her to stop because Mendoza was behind the vehicle.
"Don't move the car," he said, according to police. "He's right behind you."
A witness walking in the neighborhood told police there was "no doubt" that the driver of the SUV knew that Mendoza was in the back of the vehicle because the man was banging on the back window.
Ouchlaeun said she never saw Mendoza in the rearview mirror.
Anyone with any information concerning this crime is urged to contact the Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Section at 828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.
Contact reporter Tom Ragan at tragan@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.
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