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Las Vegas officer suspended in videotaped beating case
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Mar. 22, 2012 | 6:51 p.m.
A Las Vegas police officer under investigation for a videotaped beating of a man has been suspended with pay pending completion of an internal investigation, police said Saturday.
The Metropolitan Police Department had earlier said officer Derek Colling, accused of beating videographer Mitchell Crooks, was still on duty during the investigation of the March 20 incident.
But a police official said Saturday that Colling was suspended with pay on April 1, two days after the Clark County district attorney's office dropped all charges against Crooks. When asked about the case last week, a department spokesman said nothing about the suspension.
On the night of March 20, Crooks, 36, was standing in his driveway in the 1700 block of Commanche Circle, near East Desert Inn Road and South Maryland Parkway, while videotaping police as they investigated a burglary report across the street. When Crooks refused to stop filming, Colling allegedly attacked him, with much of the altercation recorded by the camera.
Crooks' attorney, David Otto, on Thursday sent police a statement from Crooks, along with a demand for $500,000 to cover Crooks' medical care, pain and suffering. A planned lawsuit has not yet been filed.
On Saturday, District Attorney David Roger said no criminal case against Colling has been submitted to his office.
Colling has been involved in two fatal shootings in his 5½ years as a Las Vegas police officer. In 2006, he and four other officers shot Shawn Jacob Collins after the 43-year-old man pulled a gun at an east valley gas station.
In 2009, he confronted mentally ill 15-year-old Tanner Chamberlain, who was holding a knife in front of his mother and waving it in the direction of officers. Colling shot him in the head.
Both shootings were ruled justified by Clark County coroner's juries.
Crooks made headlines in 2002 when he videotaped two Inglewood, Calif., police officers beating a 16-year-old boy.
Crooks first tried to sell that tape and then refused to give it to prosecutors. He then was jailed on old warrants from unrelated drunken driving and petty theft charges. Civil rights advocates decried it as retribution. Since 2003, he has lived in Las Vegas, where he shoots video for nightclubs.
Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.
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At that Time Mr. Crooks proceeded to argue with the Officer who had EVERY reason to believe that Mr. Crooks was Breaking the Law and could possibly have participated in the commission of the burglary. prompting the officer to Become more stern, no longer asking (which he had done repeatedly) but demanding compliance. Having REASONABLE SUSPICION and PROBABLE CAUSE The officer proceeded to take mr. crooks into custody for obstructing an Officer.... (for failure to comply with LAWFUL orders of a police officer) here is where i feel it went wrong. The OFFICER did not state that he was taking mr crooks into custody. and used an escalation of force that was unnecessary. However, IF MR. CROOKS Had provided ACCURATE information to the officer originally this entire Situation could have been avoided. Furthermore, all of the ranting and raving about how out of control LVMPD has become does Nothing to help the bond between LE and The community. the Law enforcement Community has one of the toughest jobs Imaginable on American Soil They are NOT SUPERMEN who r greater than all... CONTINUED
Although i do agree that the officer crossed the line. and many do so often, IN THIS CASE, When the officer asks him from the vehicle "do you live here?" his reply to the officer was "nope" those were taken directly from the video. Based on THAT information the officer had probable cause to approach and question Mr. Crooks based on the "known Facts and Circumstances" that Mr. Crooks "DID NOT LIVE THERE" and that there had been a Burglary across the street. The Officer HAD reason to ask mr. crooks to stop filming so that he may direct his full attention to the officers questions. CONTINUED IN NEXT COMMENT
Just want to say to you David.Mazur that I agree with you. We should be reading about this everyday. Just so happens I had an incident with one of the POS officers today. If he was a good cop
I would have never had the run in with him. Not all cops are bad but
we in L.V. certainly have more than our share of the rotten ones.
I just hope and pray that the DOJ will step in sometime soon.
I saw the comment Mitch made and it should be asked again and again ...
Why aren't we reading about this investigation every day? Why aren't we hearing about insightful investigations into Colling's past? Why doesn't this event trigger intense scrutiny of other similar events? Surely there are many. Why don't we exposes probing the culture of violence that exists among our police force? Why don't we continue to read about the overtime abuses of the fire department? Why don't we know more about the cronyism that keeps these abuses on the back page?
I failed to see a beating in this video. In the audio portion the officer appears to be breathing normally and without exertion.
In addition to those mentioned by jdsummerlin, contact the members of the City Council, the members of the County Commission, the State Attorney General. The more people they hear from the more they will listen. There are three members of Metro that have at least two kills in officer involved shootings. Brian Yant, two kills, total of three shootings. William Mosher, two kills, currently assigned patrol duty. He may be the cop stopping you or your family. Derek Colling, two kills, and one video taped assault.
I urge ALL OF YOU to email Sheriff Gillespie, Mayor Oscar, and Govenor Sandoval your feelings about this story, like I did. Hopefully this rogue cop will be let go and the other cops in need of anger management classes will settle down knowing that they too might get canned. It's a shame that the power does go to their heads. The difference between these rogue cops and Nazi SS officers is not to far off!
Similar thing happen to me 20 years ago. Punk Cop wanted to fight me once I had cuffs on. They let me go once they found out that I had a LV Badge and we had the same boss.
I called the ACLU, they were not interested, they only care if they can make money off of your pain or if you like sex with little boys.
I filed with IA, they only used the info to cover it up.
The LV Police Dept was killing so many innocent people back then, they could not risk allowing me to support the story of the innocent victims, so they fired me in order to discredit me.
Over 90% of the cops are Good Cops, but too scared to stand up the corrupt ones.
LVMP hire to many punks who like to fight citizens once they are in handcuffs. Makes the rest of the good cops look bad.
I hope the review journal prints my comments
i hope the review journal will publish these comments because they censored my last comments because they said I went over the 2000 character limit. I have a degree in psychology and I went to law school. It would seem that police officers need more training in the constitution, specifically the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 14th amendment which includes the due process clause. I am sure they have a hard job. I am sure that most LE is well intentioned overall. That being said, most are neither psychologically sophisticated or constitutionally well versed. They deal daily with scumbags, sexual predatorts, pedophiles, fugitives, gangs and assorted other losers and creeps that seem to be attracted to Vegas. That being said..they have a difficult job. However, I think there is some overzealous law enforcement and I think alot are on steroids. Perhaps they need steroids because again, they have to confront this sordid cast of characters on a day to day basis. It is a curious coincidence that the application for a position on Metro has a section that specifically adresses steroid use. I see tons of people on steroids at the gym on a day to day basis. Just walk into any LVAC or 24 hour fitness. You see those "boneheads" and jarheads everywhere. The bottom line is LE needs to abide by the U.S. Constitution and they need sensitivity training. Constitutional violations should not be tolerated by anyone especially law enforcement.