Harassment, crash may be connected

Jace Radke

Thursday, May 25, 2000 | 10:57 a.m.

Metro Police are investigating a possible connection between Wednesday morning incidents of sexual harassment and an accident Wednesday afternoon that sent one Las Vegas man to the hospital with critical injuries.

A black sport utility vehicle ties the two incidents together, department spokesman officer Steve Meriwether said.

"At about 8:30 a.m. we got a call about a man approaching females in the northwest part of town and saying he was going to prison for 20 years and propositioning them for sex," Meriwether said. "One woman said she was propositioned and then followed.

"We saturated the area with patrol cars and searched for about an hour and didn't find anything."

Throughout the day dispatchers put out the description of a black sport utility vehicle that the man was reportedly driving, and about 3:45 p.m. that description paid off.

Two officers noticed a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee a few cars ahead of them at the light at Jones and Upland boulevards. The officers got out and began to walk to the black Jeep when the light turned green and the car drove off south on Jones.

The Jeep ran a red light at Jones and Alta Drive, colliding with a 1998 Chevrolet pickup that then careened into a power pole on the southwest corner of the intersection.

The impact sent the Jeep into a 1985 BMW and a 1999 Pontiac that had just started to accelerate to drive through the intersection and continue east on Alta, Meriwether said.

The driver of the pickup, Brett Gall, 30, of Las Vegas, was thrown out the passenger window as his truck knocked down the power pole and a resident's fence. Gall was taken to University Medical Center and remained in critical condition this morning.

The driver of the Jeep, 27-year-old Anthony Ryan, also was taken to UMC, where he was treated for minor injuries and released into police custody.

Ryan has been charged with felony reckless driving with substantial bodily harm and possession of a stolen vehicle.

The drivers and passengers in the other two cars suffered only minor injuries.

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