Police pursuit of stolen car ends in crash into parking structure

Jace Radke

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

A 15-minute chase down Las Vegas streets ended Wednesday night when a man Metro Police believe stole a car crashed into a covered parking area at an apartment complex near Arville Street and Pennwood Avenue.

The police were investigating a report of a stolen Toyota 4-Runner, last seen near Torrey Pines Drive and Jones Boulevard, when a nearby sergeant noticed the 4-Runner drive by, Lt. Ron Johnson said.

"It appears that the victim left the keys inside the vehicle when she left it, and when the victim returned it was gone," Johnson said. "Once the sergeant spotted the vehicle, we began the pursuit."

The 4-Runner led police southwest toward the area of Rainbow Boulevard and Flamingo Road before doubling back toward to the Arville-Pennwood area.

"Once it got to Sahara and Jones, the air unit took over the pursuit," Johnson said of the police helicopter support. "The suspect reached speeds as high as 65 mph and as slow as 15 mph. He was blowing through stop signs and lights and driving in an erratic manner."

The 4-Runner pulled into the Woodcreek Apartments, 4485 Pennwood Ave., and the driver prepared to bail out and try to escape on foot, Johnson said.

"At that point one of the following officers attempted a pit maneuver, where an officer uses his car to nudge the suspect vehicle, hopefully getting it to spin out and stall," Johnson said. "The suspect managed to keep control of the car, but then he drove into the parking cover."

The 4-Runner barreled through about 30 yards of support beams, knocking down many of them before crashing into a car parked under the metal covering. The suspect got out of the 4-Runner and jumped a 6-foot wall into the adjacent Emerald Park Apartments, where he was arrested.

One resident at Woodcreek, who was awakened by the crash, said it sounded like "aluminum cans being crushed 10 times over."

The suspect, whom police were not able to immediately identify, suffered a laceration to the right side of his head in the accident and was admitted overnight to University Medical Center, Johnson said.