Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Man calls slaying by police ‘murder’

"Cold-blooded murder" is how the uncle of a man shot downtown by a Metro Police officer early Sunday described his nephew's death.

Keith Miller, who owns a bodyguard business in California, said Metro's explanation of the events surrounding the death of his sister's son, Damien W. Morton, 22, of Denver, doesn't add up.

"A life was taken, and it was taken unjustifiably," Miller said through tears during a phone interview. "I feel very helpless. This never should have happened.

"All I want is the truth," he continued. "They need to come out with the truth, because this doesn't sound right."

Capt. Tom Lozich said the officer fired his weapon "to stop a felony crime and to protect a potential victim of a felony crime."

According to Lozich, a K-9 officer saw a car driving on the wrong side of the street in the area of Charleston Boulevard and Las Vegas Boulevard South about 4:15 a.m. Sunday.

Officer David Newton, 31, who has been on the force seven years, tried to pull the car over, but the driver didn't stop and a short chase ensued, Lozich said. About eight blocks away, near Fourth Street and Bridger Avenue, a man believed to be Morton jumped from the car and ran away, police said.

A block away, at Third and Bridger, police said Morton tried to carjack a driver sitting at a red light, but the motorist sped off.

When a second car drove up to the intersection, Morton allegedly ran to the driver's door and began banging on it, police said. Newton thought Morton was trying to carjack another car and the officer fired his weapon at him, police said.

"An officer is obligated to stop a felony from occurring," Lozich said. He said it wasn't clear if Morton was armed or not -- Miller said he wasn't armed -- and the investigation is ongoing.

The car sped off with Morton inside, police said. Newton then realized that the car was the same one he had been pursuing earlier. The driver turned out to be Morton's girlfriend, April Wellington.

She took him to Lake Mead Hospital. He was transferred to University Medical Center's Trauma Unit, where he died about 9:40 a.m., police said.

Miller said he contacted the Clark County coroner's office to find out how his nephew died, and he was told Morton "was shot five times in the back and buttocks."

Lozich said he could not release the number of rounds fired or which parts of Morton's body was hit by bullets.

Newton has been placed on routine leave with pay, according to Metro policy.

Miller said he and his nephew were close, and they had talked on the phone earlier in the night. Morton had come to Las Vegas from Denver a few days earlier with Wellington.

Scott Reisch, Morton's Denver criminal defense attorney, said there were several pending criminal cases against Morton at the time of his death. Morton was scheduled to appear in court last week, but failed to appear, Reisch said.

Several of the cases against Morton were being heard by the Colorado Supreme Court, Reisch said.

"In one of the cases, the D.A. said (Morton) went after her in the courtroom, but he was shackled," Reisch said. "The same person who said she was a victim also wanted to prosecute him."

Morton was the focus of a highly publicized case in May when a Denver television station obtained the videotape showing Morton being manhandled in August 2002 by Denver County sheriff's deputies while he was an inmate in the county jail.

Morton was in jail facing multiple charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, reports said.

According to News4 in Denver, four deputies tossed Morton, who was handcuffed, shackled and bleeding, face down onto a concrete floor a day after Morton threw sour milk at one of them and backed up his toilet, flooding his cell.

One deputy appeared to throw at least two punches at Morton while he was cuffed, reports said.

After the tape surfaced, the city of Denver paid Morton $10,000 to settle any potential claims relating to the incident on the videotape and five other cases involving Morton and the police.

Reisch said Morton "knew it was worth more," but he didn't have an attorney when he accepted the settlement.

Morton was "a good kid," Reisch said.

"I liked him," he said. "He would tell you honestly that he was no angel, but he was always polite and courteous to me and my staff. As long as people treated him with respect, he treated people with respect."

Miller said he contacted Johnnie Cochran about the shooting, and that "Johnnie Cochran is sending an attorney to Las Vegas ... That's definite.

"I'm tired of cops getting away with murder, and that's the bottom line. I could understand if (Morton) was armed, but he wasn't.

"This is a straight cold-blooded murder. They shot him down like he was an animal," Miller said.

This is the second K-9 officer to be involved in a shooting in the past week. On Tuesday Robert D. Johnson, an 11-year veteran of Metro, shot and killed a 16-year-old boy who attempted to rob a fireworks stand Johnson and his wife were manning.

Johnson had been involved in shootings in 1996, 1999 and 2000. None of the people shot was killed, and all of the shootings were ruled justified by Metro's use-of-force board.

Morton was the fourth person fatally wounded by Metro officers this year. There have been a total of six officer-involved shootings this year.

Sun reporter

Ed Koch contributed to this report.

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