Officers in shootout identified

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004 | 9:57 a.m.

The Metro Police officers involved in a shootout with a 27-year-old man Thursday night on Twain Avenue have been identified as James Breed and Sasha Kaster.

Officers were dispatched to the Boston bar at 1035 E. Flamingo Road to investigate a fight and while Breed was en route he heard a gunshot come from a gold Saturn on Cambridge Street.

He tried to pull the car over but the driver, David B. Martin, did not stop and ran a red light at Twain and Swenson, police said. Breed used a pursuit immobilization technique to stop the car, and Martin fled on foot with a gun in his hand.

Martin ran between the Rum Rummer bar and the Funhog Ranch, and Breed and Kaster both fired at him, the police report says. Martin jumped over a block wall into the parking lot of India Palace, where he was arrested.

Police found a .32-caliber pistol in the parking lot of the Rum Runner and a newly spent .32-caliber shell on Cambridge where Breed heard the initial gunshot.

In Martin's car police found a .25-caliber handgun under the driver's seat. A criminal records check showed Martin was a registered felon in Nevada for a 1996 armed robbery conviction.

In May, Breed and Kaster were cleared of any wrongdoing after shooting and killing a homicide suspect outside the Eureka Casino.