Nursing Student Claims She Hit a ‘Boulder’—Turns Out It Was a Woman

TheNevadaGlobeStaff

8 hours ago

Categories: 702Times

Nursing Student Claims She Hit a ‘Boulder’—Turns Out It Was a Woman

A 22-year-old nursing student from Las Vegas is facing felony charges after allegedly striking and killing a woman with her SUV—and driving away without so much as calling 911.

Dora Henderson, a full-time nursing student, told police she thought she had hit a boulder when she fatally ran over 41-year-old Natale Burton on West Tropicana Avenue late Sunday night. Police, however, found human bones lodged in the undercarriage of her 2014 Ford Edge and blood “all over.” Still, Henderson claims she was unaware anything serious had happened. Let that sink in.

Rather than taking the adult step of pulling over, rendering aid, or alerting emergency services—basic civic decency—Henderson chose to flee. Burton was later pronounced dead at University Medical Center. It’s believed she may have been kneeling or lying in the road at the time, but Henderson’s failure was not in the hit—it was in the run.

Now charged with three felonies—leaving the scene of a crash, failure to render aid, and failure to report to law enforcement—Henderson made her first court appearance Thursday. Her public defender argued for leniency due to financial hardship and full-time student status, but Judge Lisa Luzaich wasn’t buying it.

“This is tough,” the judge said. “Do I think that you intentionally ran somebody over? No. But when you do this, you have to stop, try to render aid, call the police, or do something. You just kept driving, and somebody died as a result of your actions.”

Luzaich highlighted the disturbing evidence—bones, blood, and the complete lack of reaction. “It is not humanly possible that she didn’t know something terrible had happened,” the judge added. Bail was set at $100,000.

This case underscores a growing cultural trend where people are quick to ask for sympathy but slow to accept consequences. In a nation built on law and order, excuses like “I thought it was a boulder” shouldn’t cut it—especially from someone training to be a nurse.

Accountability matters. And it’s time our courts—and culture—start demanding more of it.

Source: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department