Dettloff: I wasn’t trying to get away

Kim Smith

Monday, March 11, 2002 | 9:19 a.m.

Attorneys for a Las Vegas man accused of causing an accident that killed three people and then fleeing the scene were expected to wrap up his defense today.

Mitchell Dettloff, a 36-year-old former restaurant manager, faces four counts each of leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving and three counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the April 22, 2001, accident.

Leaving the scene of an accident carries the harshest sentence -- two to 15 years in prison per count.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker alleges Dettloff had just merged onto southbound U.S. 95 from Ann Road when he clipped the right front end of a Ford pickup, which was carrying members of the Barton family. The pickup was forced across the dirt median and into the path of Brian Cooper, who was driving northbound, Booker said.

Holly Barton, 33, and Benjamin Barton, 8, were thrown from the vehicle and killed. Cooper, 30, also was killed. James Barton was critically injured but recovered.

Dettloff told jurors Friday that when he regained control of his car after being "bumped" he saw nothing but a large dust cloud. He decided he'd been the victim of a hit-and-run accident and left.

"Sir I wasn't trying to get away," Dettloff told Booker. "There was nothing to get away from because I didn't think there was anything there."

Dettloff said he went home and ate pizza with his family, leaving a telephone call to his insurance company for the morning. He denied going to a gentlemen's club -- an allegation prosecutors made early on, but failed to bring up to jurors.

It was only when police came banging on his door early the next morning that he realized he might have been involved in a more serious crash, Dettloff said.

Dettloff told Booker he didn't answer the door, thinking it best that he call an attorney.

When he learned April 24 that a warrant had been issued for his arrest, Dettloff said he tried to turn himself in at the jail, but no one could find a warrant for him.

Dettloff was arrested April 25 -- two days before he said he planned to appear in court with his attorney for a bail-setting hearing."