9/11 first responder becomes victim of hit-and-run in Las Vegas 21 years after attack
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Mark Vobis was working as a New York state court officer on Sept. 11, 2001, and says he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center.
“We didn’t think that any of us were going to live past that day,” Vobis told the 8 News Now Investigators.
Vobis later relocated to Las Vegas, worked as a court officer in Clark County, and became active, riding his road bike regularly.
Vobis said he normally struggled with every September 11 since 2001, but on Sept. 11, 2022, he decided to go on a bike ride. He woke up in a hospital weeks later and learned he was the victim of a hit-and-run crash.
“It was like a bad dream, you know?” Vobis recalled.
The driver has never been caught.
“I don’t know if they realize what they’ve done to my family. I’m angry that my family has to deal with this,” Vobis said. “It would be nice if somebody, you know, who saw it would just say something, ‘Hey, I saw it.’ Or the person who did it came forward and said, ‘Hey, I did it.'”
The 8 News Now Investigators reviewed Henderson police records about the crash investigation.
No witnesses came forward to say they saw the crash. The first 911 caller who blocked Vobis’s body with his truck said he did not witness the crash either.
Investigators requested video from four nearby businesses and concluded none of the footage was clear enough to provide any leads.
Only two clues are noted: a white two-door vehicle with a box-style rear end and yellow paint transfer near the metal frame of Vobis’s bike.
“It’s mindboggling to me that nobody saw anything,” Vobis said.
The crash occurred on a Sunday before 8 p.m. on Saint Rose Parkway near Maryland Parkway.
“It was a first week of football. Saint Rose was packed,” Vobis recalled. “They didn’t come up from a spaceship and go up in a spaceship. There’s so many cameras in this town.”
The 8 News Now Investigators requested an interview with Henderson police about the investigation. While an interview was not granted, police did speak with 8 News Now 10 days after the crash and expressed that there was a chance the case could remain unsolved.
Vobis suffered a traumatic brain injury and a spinal cord injury. He remains in a wheelchair and is learning to walk again.
“I have a lot of issues but I’m here so now I can tell people ‘I’m not scared of you,'” Vobis said. “I took on a car. I won. I’m here.”
A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555.
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