Officer fires gun in school parking lot

Eric Leake and Emily Richmond

Thursday, May 19, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

An otherwise normal day at Palo Verde High School ended Wednesday afternoon with a screech and a gunshot.

Nobody was reported injured, though the parking lot was full of students, when a school police officer fired into the driver's side of a car just after school let out at the campus at Alta Drive and the Las Vegas Beltway in Summerlin.

The driver, 18-year-old Matthew J. Austin, was arrested and charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, Clark County School Police spokesman Darnell Couthen said. Austin was also charged with reckless driving, obstructing a police officer and having an open bottle of beer in his vehicle, all misdemeanors.

Austin was booked into the Clark County Detention Center Wednesday with bail set at $10,000. A probable cause hearing was scheduled for Friday morning.

Phil Gervasi, president of the Clark County School Police Officers Association, said the officer fired at the car because it was threatening police and students.

Gervasi said the new model white Mazda 6 arrived on campus shortly after 1:20 p.m. and was driving erratically, based upon initial reports.

"The car was jumping the speed bumps like they weren't even there," Gervasi said. "Then they almost hit a couple of students; that's what drew the officer's attention."

A school police officer, riding his bike, yelled at Austin to stop, Gervasi said. The vehicle slowed down and then revved up, racing toward the officer, Gervasi said.

The officer ditched his bicycle before it was struck and dragged under the car, Gervasi said.

At that point the school's second campus police officer arrived and ordered the vehicle to stop, Gervasi said. Austin instead revved the engine, shot into reverse and headed toward the second officer, Gervasi said.

"As they were attempting to run him down, the officer drew his weapon and a shot was fired," Gervasi said.

The single shot struck the the driver's side door of the car. The two men, uninjured, promptly surrendered.

Eric Clifton, 18, was the passenger in the car. He said he and his friend are both former students -- though he did not graduate -- who have visited the campus before and caught the attention of school police.

"We were just looking for girls. We know a lot of people who go there," Clifton said.

He said he and Austin were "just driving like kids" when school police asked them to pull over, though they did not comply.

Clifton said his friend was not trying to run over anybody and that the officer overreacted by opening fire.

"He threw the bike underneath the car," Clifton said. "He had to feel his life was in danger to fire."

Couthen, the School Police spokesman, said the officer who fired his weapon did think that he, his fellow officer, and the students in the parking lot were in danger.

Couthen said no students were in the immediate background when the officer fired.

He said the officer involved, an eight-year veteran of the department, has been placed on routine administrative leave while the Metro Police homicide division investigates the shooting, which is standard procedure.

Gervasi said the officer acted according to training in aiming for the car driver.

"If you draw your weapon, it's to stop the aggression, not to try and slow the car down, not to take out a tire," he said. "That's what we, and every other law enforcement officer out there, are trained to do."

Palo Verde student Jason Perlmutter, 16, considered a school parking lot is a risky place for a shooting.

"There's all the cars. It's a madhouse after school." he said.

Perlmutter was walking to his car and saw the white Mazda driving in the parking lot. He said it appeared that the officer had thrown his bike in front of the car, though it was difficult to know what he saw in the commotion.

He said he then heard what sounded like a cap gun or a tire popping.

Perlmutter said most students were not scared by what happened, but said he never expected a shooting at his school in Summerlin.