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Man survives shooting incident with Las Vegas police, but questions remain
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John Gurzinski/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Leonard Greer shows the distance from a police officer's gun to his car window when a single shot broke the glass inches from his head on Jan 12. Both he and the officer were lucky: The bullet deflected and buried deep in his car door. » Buy this photo
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Leonard Greer stands near his home in the Shelter Island Apartments on Swenson Street. In his right hand is a citation for obstructing an officer, issued after a Las Vegas police sergeant nearly shot him in the head. John Gurzinski/Las Vegas Review-Journal » Buy this photo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Feb. 5, 2011 | 7:03 p.m.
Leonard Greer is a lucky man. Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it.
By any estimation, the bullet fired from a Las Vegas police officer's handgun Jan. 12 should have pierced the driver's side window of his car and buried itself in Greer's body.
Instead it glanced off the window and burrowed nearly straight down into the driver's door of Greer's Oldsmobile Bravada sport utility vehicle.
The 22-year-old was unscathed, if shaken, by the close call.
Greer apparently did nothing wrong and was not arrested. He was given a ticket for obstructing a police officer, a vague misdemeanor citation for which Greer says he was never given an explanation.
The incident received scant notice, though it was the department's first and so far only officer-involved shooting of 2011. Coming just months after two controversial shootings that shook the force and sparked widespread outrage, Greer's wounding or death would have been a major embarrassment for the department.
The officer, Sgt. Darrin Densley, a 22-year police veteran, is on routine paid administrative leave while the shooting is under investigation.
Department spokesman Bill Cassell said no decision on Densley's actions has been made by the department's use of force review board, a panel that reviews such incidents.
Cassell declined to comment on Greer's story of what happened, saying it would be inappropriate while the department's investigation is still open.
The incident angered Greer, a clothing store clerk. He said he has had trouble sleeping since that night.
"For a while, every time I closed my eyes the only thing I could hear was the gunshot," he said Friday.
Greer said he had just paid the week's rent for his small unit on the third floor of the Shelter Islands Apartments on Swenson Street at Twain Avenue. It was about 6 p.m., and he had his receipt in his pocket.
Greer was leaving the apartment complex with his girlfriend, Edna Williams, and her two cousins. As they walked to his car, he saw four uniformed police officers standing in the courtyard on his right.
Greer was talking on his cell phone as he walked past them and said he doesn't remember hearing one of them yell, "Hey," at him just as he was about to get into his car, although Williams said she heard it.
Before he could put his key in the ignition, Densley was standing near the windshield with a gun pointed at him, Greer said.
Densley ordered Greer and the others to get out of the vehicle. Greer refused.
"I said, 'No, I'd done nothing wrong,' and that I lived there," he said.
The officer demanded some proof that he lived there, and Greer said he had a rent receipt and would get it out of his pocket.
With his left hand on the steering wheel, he used his right hand to pull it out of his pocket. He then put his right hand, clutching the receipt, back on the steering wheel.
That's when Densley fired, Greer said. Crime scene technicians later dismantled the door and took the bullet away as evidence.
Neighbor Paul DePrizio said he watched the incident from the corner window of his third-floor apartment and expected the worst.
In the five years he has lived in the complex, DePrizio said, "I've seen some crazy stuff happen, but nothing like that."
He said he could see that Greer and Williams had their hands up.
"The gunshot went off out of nowhere," he said. "No one was reaching for anything."
After the shot, the next thing everyone heard was an officer asking whether anyone had been hit. No one had.
Police later searched his car and his apartment, turning up nothing, Greer said. He said officers thought he or his girlfriend had a gun. He said he doesn't know why.
Greer said the only reason he was given for being stopped was "because I was a black male in a high-drug area."
Simply being a black man in a bad neighborhood might not be enough.
ACLU of Nevada General Counsel Allen Lichtenstein said officers can't legally stop someone just because they think the person looks suspicious.
The incident highlights the issue of when, and how, an officer can temporarily detain someone on foot or in a car -- known as a "Terry stop" for the 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Terry v. Ohio.
"(The court's decision) says an officer who has a reasonable, articulable suspicion that someone is engaged in or about to engage in a crime can detain a person for a short period of time, only long enough to determine who the person is and whether or not they're engaged in a crime," Lichtenstein said.
The ACLU of Nevada has urged the Metropolitan Police Department to compile data on "Terry stops," including the legal reason for each, to see whether the department is using racial profiling as part of its 287(g) program.
The program, run through the department's Clark County Detention Center, identifies illegal immigrants arrested in connection with serious crimes and turns them over to federal immigration agents.
A nonpartisan think tank this week released a study saying that the department has largely made good on only targeting illegal immigrants arrested in connection with serious crimes.
But Lichtenstein said the department has not released racial profiling data.
Greer said his insurance will pay for the damage to the car, although the department also said it would pick up the tab. He said that's not enough, and he plans to hire a lawyer.
Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.
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Cool, That's my neighborhood too, only I am inside the walls at LVCC. It's a sad state of affairs when you live with a surrounding neighborhood such as twain and swenson to the south karen and van patten/sherwood/6th st. to the north and vegas valley/maryland to the east and your worst fear outside the gates is the police.
I have experienced probably 50+ of these "Terry stops" by LVMPD, been stopped with the use of the chopper and no less than 6 units in blockade fashion with the only reason, that I was going to multiple business that looked strange. Sorry, I went to Walmart and McDonalds and forgot to call them to get permission.
I've lived in Vegas all my life, I know the bad areas of town, if I want to go, I have that right. Twain and Swenson used to have my favorite pool hall, I was stopped almost every time I went. Searched, run my info, lecture me and release. I have no criminal or even traffic record, but they sure love to log my whereabouts.
Also, I like to go up Vegas Valley near the old dump and eat or walk around or just sit and meditate. MANY times they come up to search me and run my info and tell me they don't like me up there, but they can't stop me.
When you call this so called POLICE department and need something, they never show or wait until the matter unfolds. When they want to harass someone because they have a badge and flashy lights, you are in their control.
I really wish there was a way to get LVMPD to treat citizens with respect and perform their jobs. This kid was shot for no reason, and no big deal is made of it. There are good officers, but many bad ones, and that shows that the problem is in the chain of command. These brave souls make lousy wages for a thankless job. But, it is the actions of the many lousy officers that give them the reputation that work hard to deserve: Uneducated, immoral, unproductive, disrespectful, and Severe abuse of power.
This is the same sergeant that held me at gunpoint and threatened to shoot me for talking in my own driveway. I just verified it. If Mr. Greer has an attorney please contact me at pethead@aol.com. I have some helpful information. This cop needs to be removed from duty permanently and I will do everything I can to see that it happens.
RKP9 (cont) And, when all else fails, and your pathetic misdirection is exposed, you ( as well as LVBornAndRaised) resort to the most weak and pathetic of all positions. You blame the victim. You have sunk even lower than I ever thought you could, like a slimy defense attorney blaming a rape victim for inviting her attack, you blame Greer as if somehow he invited and the trigger happy officer to intrude into his life, that he had been looking for a way to get shot by a cop in front of his family.Exactly why do you think so little of the police to think they would ever want to be held to such low standards. It's one thing to have no respect for yourself or your rights, but please have a little more respect for the police, will you? While you cheer the lies, violence and poor judgement of Metro's recent years. True thinking patriots know that Metro has the potential to return to the well respected organzation it once was -- far superior to the sad vision you have of them.
@FantasyKingpin....It must be so hard to stick by your position without anything to back you up. It is quite pathetic that after I ask that you once back up you conjecture with something even remotely resembling a fact you fail miserably. You assert that Densley has cause to conduct a Terry stop. I simply asked to for you be able to (as the court demands in Terry v. Ohio) point to specific and articulable facts which . . . reasonably warrant that intrusion." Do you think anyone else is as small minded as you to not see that in lieu of an intelligent debate, you resort to name calling and false accusations against me. You are as ignorant about my life experiences as you are about everything else you comment on in boards. You make outrageous claims without anything to support them (other than the Caps Lock Key) and think you are clever. I praise patriotism and demand respect for and adherence to the Constitution. You read that and claim I want to overthrow the Government. As usual you logic is never consistent, you vacillate from a cop's order being sacrosanct to it have no inherent value at all --- if that suddenly suits your argument
And the real kicker here is BGHS talks this #$%^ but has ZERO Law enforcement or even Military service.....he has GOOGLE..a Laptop......a electrical outlet in Mamas basement.....some regualr Meatloaf every 8 hours......He is likely a wanna be COP, that couldnt make it and now has to attack them in between puffs of the magic dragon......This would be tantamount to me critiquing a surgeon.............Although I am leaving out one possibility......he could have relevant information to the subject if he has been regularly on the OHER side ..as the Crook.....yeah....hes likely a crook.........loser.
Very well said Bornandraised..........Witha agenda based idito like BGHS, There is no winning......He obviously has a dog in the fight.......If he does NOT have a dog in the fight then dude......you got issues, and need a life......If you guys havent noticed when the police refrain from many comments......JUST LIKE on this story...where all we have is the SUSPECTS version......then the POLICE usually tend to havea WHAMMY point and love to save it to smack down the naysayers......I should suspect well see that.....when the back side comes out......Stop was legal, and appropriate......the shot fired likely a accident....so what? @#$@# happens.......That ACCIDENTAL shot doesnt get fired though if this leech on society complies like all the rest of us do when in contact with police.........BGHS is too busy planning the over throw of the Gov't, and where he will plant his next Marijuana grow.....Bishop Gorman must be proud!
The fact of the matter is this investigation into this shooting has not yet been disclosed to the public. So though I understand becoming frustrated with the police department, especially when the local media portray LVMPD like they tend to, but this article is just the story from Mr. Greer. Mr. Greer is also the same Leonard Greer who was sentenced to 16 to 40 months in Nevada State Prison for charges including "BATTERY WITH SUBSTANTIAL BODILY HARM" in a July 2007 case (Clark County District Court, C232770). This man is no angel, he is also not representative of the law abiding way of life in which most Southern Nevadans live. Greer also admittedly refused officers commands to exit the SUV, while police officers had him at gunpoint, this is not normal... unless you are actually looking to get yourself shot.
At the end of the day you should not hang our community's police department and our police officers before we know all the facts.
I have always been a proponent of Law Enforcement and have tried very hard to remain open-minded in the wake of numerous officer-involved shootings and misdeeds here in the valley. BUT, I've reached my limit. I'm sad to say that now I truly believe there is a problem with LVMPD. With all of their antics, especially the latest incident of the Metro car being in Arizona while supposedly at court, that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. How Gillespie manages to hang on his position even after repeated misdeeds of his officers, I am at a complete loss to explain. What these incidents prove is that there is an institutionalized problem with these officers' perceptions of themselves, the public, and what they can get away with. It's long past time to "cull" the herd. Oscar, you can start with Gillespie. When are the Feds going to take notice of this Out-of-Control department?
Deserthawk..blah..blah...blah...right back at you. I use more of my grey matter than you my friend. I make decisions on my own and am not a simpleton following the other mindless sheep. What you call a fact is simply inconsistent with the laws of this country. Too bad for you if you choose not to believe me. When the police end on at your door ready to violate your rights I sure you'll bend over and accept a full cavity search. Enjoy! But that's simply not my cup of tea.