Another candlelight vigil held for jailed ex-cops

Cathy Scott

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1997 | 10:07 a.m.

Family members and Metro Police gathered for another candlelight vigil Monday night outside the Clark County Detention Center where former Sgt. James Campbell and former Officers Robert Phelan and Brian Nicholson have been jailed for two weeks.

Hours earlier, members of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People gathered on the courthouse steps supporting District Judge Lee Gates' Nov. 17 order to incarcerate the three former cops. Gates is black, while the officers are white.

The Rev. James Rogers, president of the NAACP's local chapter, said earlier that he supported the jail sentence, in part because too many officers have walked away from other civil liberties and oppression violations.

Andy Anderson, president of the Police Protective Association, which represents Metro's rank and file officers, stood Monday night in front of the jail on Casino Center Drive. He held out his candle to Campbell's youngest son, Zachary. As the 5-year-old lit the candle, he asked, "Are you going to let my daddy out of jail?"

"We're not going to give up until they're out," Anderson responded.

Phelan's mother, Cornelia Phelan, who turns 66 Wednesday, said Phelan comes from a long line of officers, most of whom were arriving today to visit Phelan in jail.

"My uncle was killed in the line of duty," she said.

Also, she said, Phelan's father served on the Denver Police Department for 32 years before retiring in 1987. His oldest brother, Vincent, is a firefighter. Another brother, Patrick, is on the Denver Police Department's SWAT team, and a brother-in-law is a sergeant with the San Diego Police Department.

"People have no idea what it is to be a policeman," she said. "My son served the citizens of this city."

She said Phelan's brothers and sister have been coming in and out of Las Vegas to support their brother since 1995, when the three former bicycle patrol officers were indicted. The incident occurred after the trio encountered 40-year-old Andrew Dersch, a petty coin thief, at the Fremont hotel-casino. The incident, where Dersch was detained in a security room, slapped in the chest by Phelan and verbally threatened in an adjoining room by Nicholson, was captured on surveillance videotape.

They were convicted in a trial last year, but the verdict was overturned because of a tainted juror. On Oct. 13, Campbell and Nicholson pleaded no contest to gross misdemeanors and Phelan to two misdemeanors in exchange for what they were told would be community service, a fine and probation. But on Nov. 17, Judge Lee Gates sentenced Campbell and Nicholson to nine months and Phelan to six months in jail.

Monday's candlelight vigil marked the third protest of Gates' ruling by officers, friends and family of the trio.