McDonald, three officers injured in accident

Cathy Scott

Friday, April 24, 1998 | 9:55 a.m.

Metro Police officer and Councilman Michael McDonald was injured Thursday afternoon along with three members of his bicycle patrol squad when a tourist rear-ended their department vehicle.

McDonald "got the worst of it," his sergeant, Brook Wiegan, said.

The officers, McDonald, 33, John Courson, 29, Scott Thomas, 35, and Gary Dale, 35, were taken to University Medical Center's trauma unit, traffic Sgt. Curt Albert said.

Wiegan was called by traffic officers to the accident scene and accompanied the officers to the hospital, he said.

McDonald, a nine-year veteran on the department, suffered a fractured and possibly dislocated right wrist, he said. He also reinjured a knee that was operated on several years ago after an on-the-job accident. Because his wrist was "a bad break," emergency room personnel did not set it Thursday night, he said. He was instead scheduled to see an orthopedic surgeon today.

"It's my gun hand," McDonald said.

Courson, who was driving, suffered a back and neck injury, Alba said. Thomas "got hit real hard" and suffered a neck injury, McDonald said. Dale's shoulder was injured.

All four were released from the hospital after treatment, a UMC nursing supervisor said today.

The officers, all scheduled to work swing shift on the Strip bicycle team, had gone to their briefing. They were returning in a three-quarter-ton GMC Suburban to their bike patrol office at the Stardust hotel-casino, where its housed, when the accident occurred.

At 3:40 p.m., the four were stopped on Las Vegas Boulevard South at Cathedral Way, headed south, when a driver in a sedan failed to stop, rear-ending the the Suburban, Albert said.

The driver, David Ayers, 42, of Forest, Va., was cited for failure to pay full attention, Albert said. Ayers was not injured. Courson was not cited.

The cars sustained minor damage, Albert said.