Injury to officer raises use of force questions

Keith Paul

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2001 | 10:23 a.m.

A man accused of striking a Metro Police officer in the face this past weekend had a history of struggling with police.

Marlon Olivas, 36, had to be wrestled to the ground and pepper sprayed before he could be subdued by California police officers during an incident in August, according to officials of the Salinas, Calif., Police Department.

In neither the Salinas nor the Las Vegas incident did officers resort to deadly force against Olivas.

Olivas was in the Clark County jail this morning after being charged with eight felonies in connection with an incident in which Officer Kyle Hirschi was hit in the face with a wooden cutting board. A police dog was stabbed during the incident.

Hirschi, who suffered a broken eye socket and nose and got 20 stitches in his face, was released from University Medical Center Monday.

Olivas was taken into custody in Las Vegas Friday night after officers fired several non-lethal weapons at him. A couple of times during the incident, Metro officers said, deadly force was considered.

"Some officers said they considered (shooting) when he was throwing knives," Capt. Dennis Cobb said, but they did not, because people and homes behind Olivas might have been put in danger.

But through most of the brief chase, Olivas was considered simply a person trying to escape and, consequently, was not a target of deadly force. He was not an immediate danger to others, Cobb said.

"Had he run at anybody or was running into another apartment, then the danger is real and immediate," Cobb said.

Metro policy authorizes officers to use deadly force to protect themselves or others from immediate death or serious bodily harm, or to prevent the escape of a fleeing felon who the officers have probable cause to believe will pose a significant and immediate threat to life.

In the Salinas incident, officers on Aug. 1 responded to a tip that Olivas, who was wanted on a felony warrant, was in a pool hall about 9:30 p.m. Officers were told that Olivas might have a handgun.

"They waited outside for him and when he came out they took him down," said Lt. Kelly McMillin of the Salinas Police. "He was fighting so much they had to (pepper spray) him."

Salinas police found a stolen handgun in Olivas' car. He was charged with resisting arrest and possession of a concealed weapon. The disposition of those charges could not be determined this morning.

The Las Vegas incident started about 1 p.m. Friday, when Hirschi and another officer tried to talk with Olivas at an apartment at 4250 S. Arville St. Officers had first been called to the apartment complex about 9:30 a.m. in connection with a man who was shooting out windows with a slingshot.

Police allege Olivas hit Hirschi in the face with a wooden cutting board, then ran into his apartment and shut the door, prompting a five-hour standoff.

SWAT officers entered the apartment, and Olivas, carrying several knives, fled the building. He is accused of throwing a knife at some of the patrol officers in the area.

SWAT officers fired "baton rounds" -- a rounded piece of wood an inch thick and about 2 1/2 inches long -- and beanbag rounds at Olivas in an attempt to subdue him. Officers also used pepper spray.

The police dog was released to chase Olivas, who held a knife as he ran. The dog was stabbed in the mouth and needed three stitches.

Several circumstances in the incident were different from a similar standoff in January in which a man was shot to death after confronting police with a knife.

Metro Police had been sharply criticized in the case of David Herrera, a schizophrenic man killed in an officer-involved shooting.

Officers had used pepper spray and fired beanbag rounds to subdue Herrera as they formed a semi-circle around him, but the non-lethal weapons didn't cause him to drop the knife or fall to the ground. Police say he then went toward one of the officers with the knife, and the officer shot and killed him. The officer was cleared by a Clark County coroner's inquest.

Cobb said the key differences were that Herrera moved toward the officers, and Olivas was trying to flee. In addition, Herrera was standing in the doorway of his mother's house, with no one behind him. There were people and buildings in the background behind Olivas.