LV man drives through Hoover security

Thursday, May 1, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

A 29-year-old Las Vegas man drove through the security checkpoint at Hoover Dam without stopping this morning. He hit a police car and led officers on a 60-mile chase toward Kingman, Ariz., federal officials said.

About 1 a.m. David Hamer drove his silver Hyundai at about 45 mph through the checkpoint on the Nevada approach to the dam, Ken Yanni, chief of security for Hoover Dam, said.

Since shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, all vehicles approaching the dam have been required to stop for inspection a few miles away from the dam on either side.

After the Hyundai sped through the checkpoint on the Nevada side this morning, officers phoned ahead and had another officer try to block the road over the dam with his car. But the Hyundai hit that car and went around it, Yanni said. The officer was not injured, Yanni said.

Hamer crossed the Arizona state line that bisects the dam and pulled over. But when a dam police officer approached the car, Hamer sped off, leading police on a medium-speed chase over the next 60 miles, Yanni said. Police stayed within "visual range" of the vehicle because they were not yet sure what they were dealing with, authorities said.

An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter and patrol units joined the chase. Spikes were dropped on the road and they blew out the car's tires, but Hamer continued to drive on the wheel rims, Yanni said.

The Hyundai ran out of gas outside Kingman and Hamer stayed in the driver's seat until a police officer broke the driver's side window and pepper-sprayed him, Yanni said.

After he was arrested Hamer was taken to University Medical Center to be treated for a cut lip. He was to be booked into the Clark County Detention Center.

He is to be arraigned in front of a federal magistrate in Las Vegas Friday morning, authorities said.

The charges will include assaulting a police officer, because Hamer allegedly rammed the police car on the dam road, Yanni said. Hamer is also expected to be charged with failing to stop at a federal checkpoint and with reckless driving.

Yanni said because the man is alleged to have committed the felony on the Nevada side, he was brought back to Nevada for booking.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety, that state's version of the Highway Patrol, assisted in the arrest, but a spokeswoman for that agency said today that the Hoover Dam Police was the arresting agency of record.

The incident has Hoover Dam Police and the Bureau of Reclamation rethinking security measures on the dam, which has been on heightened alert since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"We will be reviewing our measures and see how we can make adjustments," Yanni said. He said authorities may consider adding a winding series of concrete barriers so that vehicles would have to weave through them before or after the checkpoints.

Federal and contracted private police have been trying to keep things safe at the dam while attempting to keep delays for passenger vehicles, tour buses, recreational vehicles and specially permitted commercial rigs to a minimum.

Delays currently are running about 10 minutes at the checkpoints. It was not known this morning how long any additional security measures would delay travelers and visitors to the popular tourist attraction.

"We will be reviewing our measures and see how we can make adjustments," Yanni said.