When bartender Erik Rensch went to a walk-in cooler after the bar rush ended at Dino’s Lounge the morning of Aug. 4, he didn’t know that move might have saved his life.
That’s because moments later — at about 6:30 a.m. — a 2018 Jeep Cherokee slammed into the north-facing side of the Dino’s building at 1516 Las Vegas Boulevard South, between the Strip and downtown Las Vegas.
“I remember an insanely loud boom,” Rensch said. “I think my brain just went ‘is that a bomb or an earthquake?’ The building kind of caved in, there was a lot of dust, and I gathered myself and got outside quickly.”
If he had been just a few feet from where he was standing, Rensch said, he would have likely been seriously injured or dead. As it was, the vehicle didn’t come into contact with anyone inside the bar, whi