Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Warrant issued for Williams

CARSON CITY -- An arrest warrant was issued a month and a half ago for Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Wendell Williams, the latest entry in a driving record that shows a pattern of breaking traffic laws.

Williams, a Las Vegas resident, has repeatedly received citations, failed to show up in court and been the subject of arrest warrants -- but authorities never arrest him, a Sun investigation reveals. Williams even had his license suspended for 19 months, but he continued to drive and got yet another traffic ticket during that time.

The most recent arrest warrant for Williams was issued July 30 in Reno for failure to appear at a traffic court hearing.

Williams had been cited for aggressive driving on May 1 by the Nevada Highway Patrol, and he was scheduled to appear in Justice Court July 30 but didn't show up, according to court records.

Williams said Thursday he never received notice of the hearing.

"I will call the court and pay the warrant," Williams said Thursday.

Williams has had previous trouble with driving violations; by his own admission he drove from Oct. 7, 2001, to May 13 while his license was suspended. He even received a traffic citation in Clark County during that time.

Metro Police wrote Williams a citation on July 23, 2002 for lacking proof of insurance or registration, according to Las Vegas Municipal Court Records. Neither Metro nor court records show why he was initially pulled over. According to Metro and court officials, Williams failed to show up in court to answer to the charges and a warrant was issued for his arrest, but he later showed proof of insurance and his vehicle registration. The charges were dropped and the warrant was cancelled.

It's unclear why the officer who stopped Williams didn't arrest or cite him for driving with a suspended license. Driving under suspension is an offense for which a driver can be arrested depending on the circumstances, Officer Jose Montoya, spokesman for Metro Police, said. "Whenever someone is stopped for a traffic offense, the officer is supposed to check the status of the license," Montoya said. "At the very least, (Williams) should have gotten a ticket (for driving with a suspended license) and should not have been permitted to drive away."

Records in the Department of Motor Vehicles show Williams' driver's license was suspended during that 19-month period because he had failed to appear in court on yet another citation issued in Washoe County.

In that case, he had been cited in April 2001 for driving 21 mph over the speed limit. Williams said he continued to drive even though his license was suspended because he didn't know about the suspension.

But Tom Jacobs, public information officer for the state Department of Motor Vehicles said that a driver is notified by certified letter when his license is suspended. The department does not go out and pick up the license, however.

In the current case, Jacobs said if Williams does not clear up the record by Oct. 1, his license will be suspended again.

Williams was not pulled over by a trooper and issued the May 1 citation in Northern Nevada. The ticket stemmed from a complaint filed by a citizen who allegedly witnessed aggressive driving by Williams.

If a citizen files a complaint about alleged traffic violations on state roads, the Nevada Highway Patrol can investigate, and if the investigator determines there is just cause, the NHP can write a citation forcing a court hearing, Trooper Angie Wolff, NHP spokeswoman, said.

Lt. Paul Hinen of the Nevada Highway Patrol said in Williams' latest case, a citizen came into the office and filed a complaint about the driving of Williams, that resulted in the aggressive driving charge. Hinen said the patrol personally served the citation on Williams. And the citation had the court date on.

In this case, the citizen, whose identity is not immediately available, will have to appear in court and identify the driver, said Hinen.

He said he did not know what happened in the case of Williams being cited for a traffic violation while his license was suspended.

Hinen said he "can't guarantee" that troopers who make every stop run a check on the driver's license of the person who is pulled over. "We don't run everybody," he said.

Jacobs also said the department "discovered a problem" when trying to verify the suspension of the license of Williams. He said it was not in the computer. "Our computer system is not flawless," he said.

But he said there is supposed to be a 10-year record of driving offenses in the computer system available to the Nevada Highway Patrol that is up to date.

During the recent session of the Legislature, two people wrote letters to the Nevada Appeal, complaining about the habits of a driver of a silver BMW Z4 sports car. The license plate was registered to Williams.

They said they saw Williams driving through the Dayton-Silver Springs area at high speeds, weaving in and out of traffic, crossing the double-yellow line and ignoring stop signs.

K. Burke of Dayton wrote one of the letters to the editor. He wrote that he saw Williams driving north on U.S. 395 heading towards Reno on May 15. He said Williams was exceeding the 50 mph speed limit, was weaving in and out of traffic and tailgating. Williams ran a light at the intersection of U.S. 395 and the Mount Rose highway, Burke wrote.

"How dare he be making laws when he blatantly breaks them," Burke wrote. "He is an elected official who should be setting an example, not showing such disregard for the traffic laws of Nevada."

The other letter writer, Jim Stout of Dayton, said the license plate on the car was "Assemblyman 5" and that a sports car that was going faster than the 65 mph speed limit between Dayton and Silver Springs, was using the no passing lane and had not stopped at a stop sign.

"To whoever State Assemblyman 5 is, I would like to recommend that if you drive around the state in this matter, I would like to suggest that you obtain a nondescript car with regular license plates on it. You won't stand out so easily," Stout wrote. In addition to being a state assemblyman, Williams is a city employee in Las Vegas. His job title is administrative officer for neighborhood services and his annual base salary is $85,981, according to city personnel.

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