Satellite, helicopter help in Metro chase

Thursday, March 6, 2003 | 11:29 a.m.

Metro Police called off a car chase of two teens who allegedly carjacked an SUV Wednesday. The decision appears to be the first high-profile example of a change in department tactics.

"This was definitely an example of a case where we wanted to call off the cars because we knew they were young and didn't want to scare these kids and get them to run over people," said Lt. Ted Snodgrass, of Metro's robbery division.

Snodgrass said the approach is one authorities will be using on a case-by-case basis, when helicopters can be used instead of cars to pursue suspects. That decision, together with what Snodgrass called "a smart dealership ... that did all the right things," resulted in nobody being hurt and Metro catching the suspects in the desert.

About 11 a.m. Wednesday two young men, ages 15 and 17, told a salesman at Pat Clark Pontiac GMC in Las Vegas that they wanted to buy a SUV.

They told the salesman they didn't have licenses to drive, but they did have access to cash, Snodgrass said.

The salesman agreed to take the teenagers for a test drive, and one of them pulled a knife on the salesman, the official said.

But the teens didn't count on the sixth sense of Bart Barker, a 28-year veteran of the car business and the manager of the dealership.

He told the salesman that he was suspicious and would be following the SUV.

"You just get a feeling," Barker said.

When the SUV pulled over on a nearby road, Barker flashed his high beams, the teens turned around to see who was behind them and the salesman jumped out of the car and joined Barker in his car.

Barker then used a system called OnStar, a satellite tracking system, and called Metro.

The helicopter chase ensued, ending when the teenagers crashed into a chain-link fence in the southeast part of the Las Vegas Valley, Snodgrass said.

The teens were charged with robbery, kidnapping, grand larceny auto, and felony evading. Barker said Metro made the right decision in calling off its cars, as the teenagers were driving erratically in the few blocks he had followed them.

"They were already doing crazy stuff -- who knows what they would've pulled," he said.

Sheriff Bill Young, who took office in January, said at that time that he planned to review and possibly change Metro's pursuit policy.