Violence in Vegas

It was the third day of the walkout, and striking hotel-casino workers had formed a picket line outside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. James Turner, 23, on strike from his job as a waiter at the hotel tried to body block a car from pulling into the driveway. The driver, a newly hired temporary security guard, moved forward, crushing Turner under the ear's front wheel as other pickets looked on in horror. Turner was hospitalized with a broken pelvis and collarbone and is listed in stable condition; authorities said that no citation was issued against the driver "pending further investigation."

The incident was the most violent in an uncommonly volatile strike in America's gambling capital. Led by four unions, some 17,000 culinary workers, bartenders, stagehands and musicians walked out of 20 of Las Vegas' major resorts in a dispute over wages, health and welfare benefits and a guaranteed 40-hour work week. More than 150 strikers have been arrested and several injured in clashes with the city police and private security guards at the resorts. Blackjack dealers and other pit workers have not struck, and the hotels and casinos are operating with skeleton staffs; showgirls are serving drinks and one public-relations man is making beds. But enough tourists are staying away to cost the hotels an estimated $3.2 million a day.