Driver's daughter surprised to hear of Nev. casino crash

LAS VEGAS -- A daughter of a 70-year-old Washington state man said Thursday she was stunned to hear her father was behind the wheel of a speeding vehicle that crashed into a southern Nevada casino, killing two people and injuring at least eight.

"I'm deeply saddened to hear people were injured and people lost their lives," Laura White, of Portland, Ore., told The Associated Press. "He will be devastated by this."

Police said Walter McGie, of Kelso, Wash., received minor injuries and that six women and one man from states including Arkansas, Arizona, California, Illinois and Minnesota were treated at area hospitals after the Wednesday morning crash at the Edgewater Hotel & Casino in Laughlin.

The Clark County coroner's office said one of two victims killed in the crash was 81-year-old Helen E. Hindmand of Lincoln, Neb. The office declined to identify the other woman who died because her next of kin had not been notified.

Spokeswoman Danita Cohen of University Medical Center in Las Vegas said an 80-year-old woman and a 70-year-old woman were in serious condition there.

White said she knew of no medical condition that might have affected her father's ability to drive.

Las Vegas police said McGie told investigators he fainted before his 2007 Pontiac Vibe crashed through the front entrance and hit at least nine people before plowing into a bank of slot machines. Las Vegas police cover the resort town about 100 miles south of Las Vegas.

Police questioned McGie for several hours before arresting him late Wednesday on two charges of reckless driving causing death. Each charge carries a possible sentence of probation or one to six years in state prison.

McGie was freed late Wednesday on $6,000 bail from the local police lockup in Laughlin and scheduled for arraignment March 11 in Laughlin Justice Court.