Family fights for grandson severly injured in crash; DUI suspect released

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — Inches from her son’s hospital bed, a Las Vegas mother is fighting with insurance companies to give her son the best chance of waking up from a coma — while the accused DUI driver remains out of custody.

On Sept. 9, Thomas “Eddie” Stanton, 23, was driving with a female passenger near Boulder Highway and Desert Inn Road before they were struck by an alleged drunk driver who ran a red light, according to a police report. Five people were injured as a result of the crash, leaving Stanton and his female passenger on life support.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police arrested Carlos Alvarez, 36, in the collision. He faces two charges of DUI resulting in bodily harm, two charges of reckless driving resulting in bodily harm, and one charge of driving through a red light, according to court records. Alvarez was released due to the lack of a criminal complaint and was required to “stay out of trouble.”

One month later, Stanton’s family said they are asking for the community’s help while they struggle with his employer of four years, Walmart, to continue his insurance coverage and give him a fighting chance of waking up from his coma.

“He was a victim with the accident,” Jamie Brooks, Stanton’s mother, said. “But now he’s being a victim of the insurance companies in the healthcare system, which is victimizing him as well. He doesn’t have a voice, and I am going to speak loud and clear for him.”

Brooks said her son suffers from several fractures, and organ removals, and remains in a coma.

“The insurance company keeps denying his claims,” she said. “He’s not lower care.”

Stanton can only lay motionless while his mother battles with his employer and insurance companies at his bedside. Medical staff told Brooks the only thing her son can do now is listen as she continues the weekslong battle for coverage of the medical instruments, giving him a chance of waking up.

“He doesn’t have a voice, and I am going to speak loud and clear for him.”

“He has good nurses, there’s a doctor team, and they genuinely care,” Brooks said. “He has full coverage after his deductibles met. His insurance policy is supposed to pick up 100%, and they’ve denied almost every claim.”

Calls from Stanton’s hospital room have gone out to Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen’s office and Governor Lombardo’s office, but Brooks said she’s had no success getting help.

“It’s just frustrating,” she said. “I call these advocates that I see online, nobody’s getting back to me.”

Brooks sought coverage through Medicaid, even though Stanton has insurance as a Walmart employee, and was allegedly told he didn’t qualify for certain aspects of “emergency” Medicaid because he isn’t an undocumented immigrant.

“I have no problem with illegal immigrants, but I have a problem with the system,” Brooks said. “With an election as close as it is [sic] I would like either one of them to explain to me why it is. He’s a U.S. citizen, and he’s not qualified to get emergency Medicaid unless he’s an illegal immigrant?”

The hours spent on the phone with insurance companies have taken a toll on Brooks who said she is frustrated with her son’s employer and lack of effort to follow through on coverage.

“He’s a U.S. citizen, and he’s not qualified to get emergency Medicaid unless he’s an illegal immigrant?”

“Walmart is a big corporation, and he has worked there for four years,” she said. “I’m not getting any help from them, it is just really disheartening to me that this is how they would treat their employees in a situation like this.”

Stanton’s family has set up a GoFundMe and is asking for the community’s support in helping pay for medical treatment, which has given him a fighting chance, and for transportation to the hospital so he can continue to hear their voices.

‘Nana is here’

Eddie Thomas, Stanton’s paternal grandmother, said he remembered the drama at the hospital and how it paralleled with her grandson’s birth.

“I prayed all the way there, and I said, ‘Just wait for me, baby, Nana is coming,’” Thomas said. “As I got in that room, I said, ‘Nana is here. You can come out,’ He came right out after that.”

Stanton was born with asthma and would have to go to the emergency room at least three times a week. Thomas pointed out Stanton’s mother has always continued to support her son.

“I’m proud of her now, I was proud of her then,” she said. “Just like she’s doing now. She’s there trying to take care of her baby.”

Thomas said she has always been proud of her grandson, who has worked hard at his Walmart job — even earning an employee of the month recognition.

“They didn’t do anything. So why did they come?”

“His immediate boss and store manager from Walmart came down there and found their way in his room to see how he was doing and said that they were going to make sure that things would be taken care of,” Thomas said. “They didn’t do anything. So why did they come?”

Prayer has been at the center of Thomas’s connection with her grandson, and it’s a resource she is asking for the community’s support.

“He’s such a wonderful young man, very responsible,” she said. “He would do anything for anybody, and we just hope somebody will help us do for him.”

Red light cameras

While reading the news, Arlene Brooks, Stanton’s maternal grandmother, saw Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill has advocated for the installation of speed and red-light cameras in the Las Vegas valley and said such a measure would possibly disincentivize other drivers like Alvarez, who sped through a red light and struck her grandson.

“I’m hoping, we’re hoping to shine some light on that,” Brooks said. “They said that they tried it before, but they couldn’t get funding. Well, I want to tell everybody out there Las Vegas seems to find money when they want Formula One, or they want to bring in a stadium.”

The fight for Stanton’s life, and now push for some change, has been physically draining on every member of the family, according to Brooks.

“It’s very physically draining, and after a month, we don’t leave him,” she said. “My granddaughters are taking turns to give us a good night’s sleep, but even then [sic] I just want to be with them, I can’t even sleep when I’m home.”

Brooks said she was shocked when she learned the accused driver who struck her son and left him in a coma was released two days after the collision.

“Why is this guy able to serve 12 hours in jail and be still driving and living his life when my grandson is fighting for every breath,” Brooks said. “I want any legislator to come up and see my grandson. He has to fight for every breath. His whole body’s been fractured and broken.”

Brooks shook and cried as she asked for the community’s help and said she wanted to thank the messages of support they had already received from her grandson’s coworkers.

“I want any legislator to come up and see my grandson. He has to fight for every breath.”

“All the young people that came up the hospital to see him — there were so many — and they came on a daily basis,” she said. “They told me so many funny stories about him. What a hard worker he was. He was so funny, and they miss him so much.”

Alvarez is still out on a bail condition of “stay out of trouble” and faces four felony charges in connection with the collision. He is expected to return to a Las Vegas court for a status check of a criminal complaint on Jan. 14, 2025.

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