Officer put on leave after firing into pile of clothes

Jace Radke

Thursday, April 20, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

A Metro Police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave after firing two shots into a pile of clothing in the back seat of a car Wednesday night.

The officer, whose name won't be released for 48 hours per department policy, was on patrol with another officer near Pecos Road and Las Vegas Boulevard about 9:20 p.m. when the officers ran a computer check on a license plate on a sedan they had spotted.

"The plates came back and showed that the owner had a probation felony warrant," Lt. Wayne Petersen said.

The officers pulled the car over in the drive-through lane of a Roberto's Taco Shop, 3102 Las Vegas Blvd. North, and ordered the driver to get out of the sedan.

The driver got out of the car, which had tinted windows, and the officers ordered anyone else in the car to get out, Petersen said.

"There was a hat on the dash and it made it look like there could be two people in the car," Petersen said.

After receiving no response, one of the officers entered the car through the driver's door, the only door that was unlocked, and began searching the back seat, which was covered in loose clothing and a garbage bag full of clothes.

The officer began moving some of the clothes to see if anyone was hiding in the back seat, but as he did some of the other clothing fell to the floor. The officer fired two shots into the clothes, Petersen said.

The driver was not arrested.