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Two officers charged in traffic death
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Sep. 3, 2010 | 12:08 a.m.
The Clark County district attorney's office has charged two Las Vegas police officers involved in a May fatal crash with reckless driving, officials said Wednesday.
Officer Aron Carpenter faces felony reckless driving and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter for his role in the May 19 death of 26-year-old Ivan Carrillo.
Officer Andrew Charles Ubbens faces misdemeanor reckless driving.
Because of the severity of the charge, Carpenter, a four-year Metropolitan Police Department veteran, has been shifted from paid to unpaid leave pending the outcome of his trial.
Ubbens remains on paid leave.
Both officers are accused of ignoring their sergeant's commands to stop their pursuit of Carrillo, who was suspected of drunken driving.
A coroner's toxicology report released in August showed Carrillo had "acute methamphetamine intoxication."
According to a police report, Carpenter 29, and Ubbens, 26, ignored three commands to discontinue the pursuit. Ubbens attempted to end the chase by using the Precision Intervention Technique, also called PIT, to bump Carrillo's car and spin it out of control. However, Carrillo regained control and continued to drive.
Carpenter is alleged to have radioed to his sergeant that he and Ubbens had broken off the chase, when they had not.
Later in the chase, Carpenter's vehicle struck Carrillo's and spun it into traffic, where three other vehicles were struck. One driver was injured and hospitalized. Although Carpenter's and Carrillo's cars hit in precisely the way a PIT is done, Carpenter maintains he was not trying to do the maneuver, police said.
Carpenter steered to the right because he perceived that Carrillo was moving into his travel lane, the report said, and investigators agreed with Carpenter's account.
Ubbens, who has been a Las Vegas police officer since February 2008, is accused of lying during the internal investigation, in which he said he never attempted a PIT on Carrillo's car.
"It was only after the first interview had concluded and Officer Ubbens had time to think, did he request to change his statement," the report said.
Police recommended criminal charges against Carpenter and Ubbens last month. Neither officer can be terminated from the force until completion of the internal affairs investigation.
Deputy Chief Joseph Lombardo said Wednesday that the officers' supervisor had told them more than once to discontinue the pursuit, as the supervisor had been trained to do.
"The officers chose to disregard the supervisor and took the matter in their own hands, and we know the results of that decision," Lombardo said.
He said the officers also turned off their lights and siren. Nevada law, as in other states, allows for police officers to disregard some traffic laws. But Lombardo said those laws don't apply to officers when they have their lights and sirens off.
"When they chose to shut off their red lights and siren, they become a citizen. And their actions led to the wanton disregard of the public's safety."
Review-Journal reporter Lawrence Mower contributed to this report. Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.
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You say they need grainy to instill integrity etc etc.....A)how do know they don't?....B) You can't TRAIN integrity.....u either have it it or u don't...........either way u didn't answer either of my points......a cop driving fast to apprehend a suspect is not the same as a couple of teenagers drag racing............screw it.....just let all the criminals go
@Reality, this country is based on rule of law that applies equally to everybody, including cops. Metro, and I am sure that this case went to the highest levels, felt the actions of the officers were outrageous enough to warrant criminal charges. This attitude of the police are always right is WRONG. The training of cops needs to be changed so that they understand the concepts of integrity, obedience of orders and learning that sometimes you have to do things that you don't like to do because you have been told to do it. If the cops didn't want to crash this guy, why didn't they follow orders and do what they were told? This is not the wild west anymore, John Wayne doesn't work any more. If your problem is with the pursuit policy then you need to address it with the Sheriff, because he created it to keep officers from killing themselves in car accidents. I have spent my time in harms way, so that you can post here, taking away the Constitutional Rights guaranteed to every person, so don't talk to me about life and death decisions. The public expects a higher standard of behavior and actions out of our LEO and Metro, quite frankly is falling woefully short. Have you figured out what the Long Gray Line is yet. Hint: it's not a movie. They are watching what happens in Vegas and it will not stay in Vegas.
Tanker- Apparently you wish the COPS would have let this meth head keep on driving down the wrong side of the road...until he ultimately and surely would have hurt or killed someone. Thats my problem overall, the fact that the COPS are supposed to just let someone go who drives off or wont stop....goes against everything every cop was ever taught...and just plain wrong.......Im not condoning them crashing.......................................................Let me ask you this....do you think they wanted to crash and kill this guy and get fired???????????????????????????????????????????????????? Of course not.......did they use bad judgement.....yep......theyre human dude........They dont work at Mcdonalds....they dont work at Sams town serving drinks.....they work in a job where life or death situations happen EVERY SINGLE Night.....But you wouldnt know it cuz you are on your MAC eating twinkies......But I promise you things like that call are happening several times a day....only when it gets in the media like this...with the bad timing of the other cases does something like this happen......COPS are out there saving lives every day....not an exagerration.......9,000,000,000 good decisions, and one bad one....I know the rules.......So did the cops...they knew it when they signed on........But if you sat those young men down and got inside their heads, they would tell you they were just trying to help...they were just trying to stop that guy from killing someone...which WAS likely by the way.....I wonder what you would think if it was your son.
@reality, So then no matter what he did, as long as an officer was in uniform and working, he should never face criminal charges for what he does, even if it is violation of the law. Falls in the category of "My bad", and he gets a free pass, except for a department reprimand, but never any criminal charges? Do you realize how dumb and idiotic that sounds? We might as well do away with the courts then, the cops can be the judge, jury, and executioner. Never get involved with a cop, and you will be ok. Speed, give the cop an attitude, and he can shoot you because you made a "furtive movement and he was in fear for his life."
you must not have read earlier ....And yes he did go wrong way down road on his own..........if they did those things then they screwed up, and should be and would be dealt with......but again,that's not criminal.......that's all I'm saying........someone tryin to make a name here I suspect
If things were as you describe, I would probably agree, but if you bother to read the story, you would know that only after being rammed by the police did the guy's car enter oncoming traffic, killing the driver and injuring other innocent citzens. So, yes I would rather not have Metro put me in danger when it isn't necessary, Officers on the scene with more experience determined a pursuit would be more dangerous than falling back. Guess what - they were right. This meth-head driver didn't injure anyone. Instead the people we entrust our safety to turned our streets into a death trap. Oh, and one more thing. I pay the cops to not lie. What's wrong with you that you can't see the cops aren't allowed to be judge, jury and executioners. Is there anything a cop could do that you would see as deserving prosecution? Perhaps if it was your daughter iwho was sent to the hospital, you would see things differently.
Are you telling me that if a meth'd out maniac was driving down the wrong side of the road swerving about to kill or injur innocent people that you wouldn't want the cops to stop him?.......What world do you live in where a cop should let this guy roll down n kill some woman and her kids?......what's wrong with you man? ......this is exactly what I pay the cops to do....keep a maniac like this from killing my kids! how else could the cops stop the car?....A mythical ray gun......or better yet a tractor beam..........So if it was up to you the cop should have pulled over n watched him roll down the wrong side of the street n kill people!
RealityKingpin,
If I intentionally ram my car into someone else's, I'm pretty sure it would be considered a crime. Just because they are in a cruiser and wearing a badge doesn't make all their actions legal. Displaying a wanton disregard to public safety is against Nevada statutes. Metro's internal policies are in place to establish appropriate circumstances to violate the law. To quote deputy chief Deputy Chief Joseph Lombardo, "When they chose to shut off their red lights and siren, they become a citizen." And it is illegal for citizens to play bumper cars on public streets. Since when does ones job allow them to ignore the law. What is truly a waste of taxpayer funds is the settlements Metro has had to pay as a result of officer negligence.
@reality. It was a Metro decision to bring it to the DA for charges. They decided that the violation of policy and traffic laws was serious enough to warrant charges. So the ones you should be asking that question of is Metro. Maybe Metro should look at other "policy violations" and if they break Nevada or Clark County statues, the same course of action should be taken. Yant immediately comes to mind, at the very least perjury for lying on a sworn affidavit.
tanker- You are correct.......but disregarding a policy is NOT a crime......metro's internal policies are not Nevada statutes! it's a dept violation and as such should and will be handled internally........but a waste of taxpayer money to suggest the Da will bring this to trial.......