News briefs for April 12, 2002

Friday, April 12, 2002 | 9:31 a.m.

Victim struggled with police

A 31-year-old man is on life support this morning after a confrontation with North Las Vegas Police officers earlier this week.

Police said Roberto Arce, 31, initiated a confrontation Monday at his home with Officers Mark Hoyt and Shayne Skipworth, then continued to wrestle and fight with the officers.

Other officers were called, and Arce was handcuffed. As paramedics were treating him, he stopped breathing, police said. He was taken to MountainView Hospital where he remained on life support this morning, police said.

Police were called to the home in the 600 block of Newbridge Way, near Alexander Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard, on the report of a man trying to break windows.

Police said officers were directed to a garage by the man's wife. Officers were told Arce was high on drugs, but testing of his blood has not been completed, police said.

Guilty plea entered in woman's slaying

A Las Vegas man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 1999 strangulation death of a 44-year-old woman.

Michael Jay McCollum, 45, will be sentenced to either 10 to 25-years in prison or a 10-year to life term when District Judge Valorie Vega sentences him next week.

Dana Rae Rasmussen was found strangled in a car on Desert Foothills Drive near the west end of Sahara Avenue.

Convicted felon arrested in case

A 10-time convicted felon was arrested Wednesday in the shooting of a hotel security guard in February.

Christopher Carper, 41, was booked into the Clark County jail Wednesday on attempted murder, battery and ex-felon in the possession of a firearm charges.

Metro Police Repeat Offender Program detectives started tracking Carper after the Feb. 25 shooting of a security guard at the Ramada Super Suites on Boulder Highway.

Detectives tracked him to a home on Sun Vista Drive, near Wyoming Avenue and Lamb Boulevard, and created a disturbance outside of the home so the suspect would come out. Once he came out, the detectives arrested him, police said.

Army helicopters are expected

to fly from Fort Irwin, Calif., to Nellis Air Force Base and to China Lake Naval Base from Sunday through April 27. The flights will occur between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. each night, military officials said.