California man run over, killed after traffic incident with teens

Wednesday, April 6, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

A California man was killed Tuesday night when he was run over by a teen driver after he had chased the driver following a traffic altercation in northeast Las Vegas.

Robert Swafford, 37, of Pinon Hills, Calif., was driving a pickup truck, carrying a male passenger, and had gotten into some kind of dispute with several teens in a car about 11:30 p.m. in the 4500 block of East Bonanza Road.

"We don't know exactly what the catalyst was, but it ended up in a cat and mouse chase," Metro Lt. Tom Monahan said. The chase lasted several minutes and reached speeds close to 100 mph.

At one point during the pursuit the truck rear-ended the car, police said.

About two miles away from the initial altercation, the two vehicles stopped at Betty Lane and Big Stone Way and Swafford got out of the truck.

He confronted the juveniles -- a group of friends ages 16 to 18 -- and the teen behind the wheel struck Swafford with the car, killing him, police said.

The teens drove away from the scene, but returned with their parents shortly after. The driver wasn't arrested for leaving the scene of an accident because the driver returned quickly, police said.

The homicide section and fatal detail are continuing their investigation, and charges may be filed.

"We don't believe it was a matter of self-defense," Monahan said. "Whether it's going to be deemed an accident, we're still working on that."

Neither drugs nor alcohol were believed to be a factor.