Homeless man beaten with pipes

Ed Koch and Jace Radke

Monday, July 2, 2001 | 10:49 a.m.

A homeless man was beaten with metal pipes Saturday night alongside North Las Vegas railroad tracks, a short distance from his former home at the "Tent City" encampment.

He was one of 30 to 40 people who were removed from the property earlier that day, police said, and an unfortunate consequence of the breakup of the squatters' community.

Metro Police Officer Kendall Wiley of Metro's Homeless Evaluation Liaison Program said she began early today investigating the incident involving the victim known only as "Red."

Red's little black and white dog "Freeway" is missing as well, Wiley said, noting that Red was beaten by three pipe-wielding men and that his front pants pocket, where he possibly kept his cash pay as a day laborer, was ripped open.

"Robbery may have been the motive, but we just don't know at this time," said Wiley, who has befriended many of the homeless of Tent City, a number of whom waited Saturday to say goodbye to their favorite cop before scattering.

The beating "was a concern I had," Wiley said, "because if they stayed in a group, they were less likely to be attacked."

Wiley did not know Red's real name. A spokesman for the public University Medical Center said today the hospital had just one assault patient Saturday, a 41-year-old man named Ralph, who was treated and released.

Wiley estimated Red's age to be 47 to 53. She had no description of his assailants.

Wiley said that some of the homeless of Tent City crossed the tracks between Owens and Washington avenues off A Street to the western edge of the Salvation Army building at 35 W. Owens Ave. At least eight people were seen at 7 a.m. today sleeping alongside that facility's fence.

Some Tent City residents scattered individually, others left in groups of two or three, Wiley said.

A number of former Tent City residents are believed to be residing to the southwest of the property in the bramble bushes on the vacant old Union Pacific Railroad desert property that borders the Clark County Government Building on Grand Central Parkway, Wiley said. Others like Red opted to journey north.

Efforts to clear the "Tent City" encampment started after William Smith, a Boulder City resident who owns the vacant property, received an abatement notice from the city of Las Vegas stating that he could face a fine of $500 and up to six months in jail if the homeless were not removed from his property.

Earlier this month Smith signed a formal trespass form, asking police to remove the homeless people living at the encampment.

An estimated 80 to 100 homeless people remained at the encampment on Thursday, from a group that numbered closer to 150 earlier this month. That number dwindled to a few stragglers Saturday morning as a cleanup crew arrived to clear the ramshackle tents and garbage left by the homeless on the lot.

Metro Police had canvassed the area with fliers informing the homeless that they were trespassing and must vacate the area.

A group of 41 homeless had hoped to delay the end of the encampment with a lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday. At least 30 homeless filed into the courtroom Friday with attorney Matthew Callister to request a temporary restraining order to stop the shut-down of "Tent City."

U.S. District Court Judge Kent Dawson listened to both the city's and Callister's arguments for nearly two hours, ruling that the homeless were trespassing and refusing to grant the restraining order.