Officer kills man during traffic stop

Jace Radke

Monday, June 25, 2001 | 10:55 a.m.

A Henderson Police officer is on paid administrative leave today after fatally shooting a man during a traffic stop Saturday night.

Police said the victim was wielding a knife.

The patrol officer was concluding his shift at 11:50 p.m., when he made the traffic stop on Green Valley Parkway south of Interstate 215, Officer Terry Bowler, a Henderson Police spokesman, said.

"He was just wrapping up his night when he made the stop," Bowler said. "He tried everything he could to avoid what happened."

Bowler said the driver of the car became agitated and aggressive toward the officer as he tried to conduct the stop, and witnesses said that the suspect retrieved a large knife from his car and started toward the officer.

The officer told the man to drop the knife and began backing up, Bowler said.

"I don't want to speculate on the exact distance the officer backed up, but it was a long way," Bowler said. "It was all the way past his patrol vehicle."

The officer ordered the man to drop the knife as he backed away, and when the suspect continued to advance, the officer pepper-sprayed him, Bowler said.

The spray didn't stop the man, who continued to approach the officer, so the officer shot, Bowler said. The suspect died at the scene.

The name of the victim was withheld until positive identification and his family could be notified. The officer's name will not be released until after 48 hours after the shooting, per department policy.

Saturday's shooting was the first time in more than two years that a Henderson officer killed someone.

On Feb. 11, 1999, Officer Brian Flatt shot 21-year-old J.C. Daniels at the Oasis Greens Apartments, 2001 Ramrod Ave.

Flatt and another officer went to the apartments after Daniels' ex-girlfriend called police and reported that Daniels had beaten her earlier in the day. The officers split up to check different apartments, and Flatt met Daniels at the bottom of a flight of stairs, police said.

Flatt reportedly asked Daniels for some identification, and Daniels pulled a knife and attacked. Flatt fired his handgun eight times, hitting Daniels six times.

The shooting was ruled justified by a Clark County coroner's inquest jury.