Girlfriend of slain man claims Metro is covering up incident

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, July 9, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

Damien Morton of Denver came to Las Vegas to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend, but a wrong turn on a downtown street sparked a chain of events that led to Morton's death at the hands of a Metro Police officer, according to Morton's girlfriend, April Wellington.

Metro officials say Officer David Newton shot Morton a few blocks away because he thought Morton was attempting to carjack Wellington, his girlfriend of eight months.

But Wellington said Metro is "trying to cover up what happened."

"They're saying they thought (the officer) was protecting an innocent bystander," she said while sitting on the bed in her downtown hotel Tuesday afternoon. But "the cop saw a black guy with a white girl and he thought (Morton) was carjacking me."

Wellington and Morton, both 22, came to Las Vegas, along with their friend Akosuasika-Nima Reavis, nicknamed "Secret," for the weekend. Wellington lived in Las Vegas as a child and has family in town. It was Morton's first time in Las Vegas. Morton played the nickel slots and won a few hundred dollars, Wellington said.

"You should've seen the gleam in his eyes," she said, smiling. After he won, Wellington said Morton told her: "You're my lucky charm, baby. Pick a machine, pick a machine."

After spending Saturday night in the downtown casino district, Wellington said they walked to the El Cortez, where they were staying, to get the white Ford Taurus he purchased for the road trip from Denver to Las Vegas. They were going to drive down the Strip, she said.

About 4:15 a.m. Sunday at Casino Center Boulevard, Morton made a left turn into the wrong lane on Charleston Boulevard in front of a police vehicle. Morton wasn't familiar with the roads, Wellington said.

K-9 Officer Newton tried to pull Morton over for the violation. Wellington said Morton hit the gas instead of stopping because he had a warrant for his arrest from Colorado for failing to appear in court on a charge involving an assault on a police officer and didn't want to go back to jail.

"I knew we either had to get away or die," Wellington said.

At Fourth Street and Bridger Avenue, Wellington said Morton told her, "Baby, I'm going to meet you at the hotel room," and he jumped out of the car.

"I was telling him to go," Wellington said. She climbed into the driver seat of Morton's car.

Newton spotted Morton running from the car to a nearby parking garage and began chasing him on foot with his police dog, Wellington said. She followed in the car, driving behind the officer and the dog.

Purposely, she said, she ran over the dog in an attempt to stop the officer from chasing Morton.

"I watched that police dog go under my car," Wellington said.

On the other side of the parking garage, at Third and Bridger, Metro officials said Morton tried to carjack a driver sitting at a red light, and the motorist sped off.

When a second motorist drove up to the intersection -- Wellington -- Capt. Tom Lozich has said Morton "ran up to the driver's door and began banging on it."

Newton thought Morton was trying to commit another carjacking and fired his weapon.

But Wellington said the story "is a cover-up."

"He never banged on my window," she said. "Oh my God, I can't stress that to you more. That's a bold-faced lie."

According to Wellington, Morton didn't try to carjack the first driver stopped at the red light; he was using the motorist's car as a barrier between him and Newton.

Morton was standing next to the passenger side of the person's car, and Newton was at the driver's side of Morton's Taurus, which was pulled up alongside the other car. Wellington sat behind the wheel of Morton's car, yelling for her boyfriend.

"I said, 'Baby, come get in the car, baby come get in the car,' " she said. "The cop had to have heard me yelling for him. How could (Newton) think he was carjacking me?"

Morton ran behind the other car, darted past Newton and dove head-first into the open driver side window, Wellington said.

"As soon as he was halfway in the window, I heard 'pop pop,' " she said, her voice shaking with emotion.

As she sped to Lake Mead Hospital, running stop lights and stop signs with police chasing her, "he said, 'baby, I'm leaking,' " Wellington said. "I held his hand, I screamed, I pleaded."

Hospital officials told Wellington that Morton was shot twice -- once in the in the leg and once in the buttocks. Police have declined to comment on Morton's injuries.

"A cop told me 'You took him to the wrong hospital. They don't do gunshots here,' " she said. Morton was transferred to University Medical Center, where he died about five hours later.

At the hospital, police told Wellington she was free to go. She said she didn't understand why she wasn't arrested for running over the police dog and evading police.

Lozich, Metro's spokesman on officer-involved shootings, was not available this morning to respond to Wellington's version of the story.

Police have not said whether a dog was injured or killed in the chase.

Wellington held up her handbag, which has a black and beige checkerboard pattern with Playboy bunnies on it. She pointed to a stain and said it was Morton's blood.

"Because I ran over his dog, that pissed (the officer) off so bad," Wellington said.

She said she plans to stay in Las Vegas to await the outcome of the coroner's inquest, in which a jury will decide whether the shooting was justified. The inquest has been scheduled for Aug. 6.

"This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me in my life," Wellington said.