Sheriff to go to FBI over shootings

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 | 7:28 a.m.

Sheriff Bill Young said Monday he would welcome talks with the head of the FBI in Las Vegas about the possibility of a federal probe into a spate of local police shootings and that he is personally looking into a fatal officer-involved shooting last week on the Strip.

Young said he heard last week that FBI officials in Washington and agents in the Las Vegas field office had discussed a possible investigation.

He has since made plans to speak with Steven Martinez, special agent in charge of the FBI in Las Vegas, to learn if an investigation was planned, when it would start and what Metro Police could expect.

So far in 2006, there have been 20 officer-involved shootings in Metro's jurisdiction, 11 of them fatal. There were 11 such shootings in all of 2005 and nine were deadly.

"I welcome more review, not less, and let the chips fall where they may," Young said during a taped interview on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston," which aired Monday night and will be shown again today at 11 a.m. on Las Vegas ONE, Cox cable channel 19.

"I think sometimes it's healthy for an organization to have outside review that takes a hard look at you, particularly when there are concerns," Young later told the Sun.

FBI officials in Las Vegas did not respond to a reporter's inquiries as of Monday evening.

Young said he wanted to know much more about events leading up to and including the Fourth of July shooting of Tarance Hall, 31, on Las Vegas Boulevard.

According to police, Hall was playing loud music and blocking traffic when an officer approached him. With an officer leaning into the car, Hall reportedly took off and drove a short distance with the officer's upper torso in the car. The vehicle hit a sign, and the officer was knocked unconscious when an air bag deployed.

When Hall put the car in reverse, police say, Metro Officer Ryan McBride fired a fatal shot into the driver's side of the vehicle. Video footage shows Hall being dragged out of the car and handcuffed after he was shot.

Young told the Sun he wasn't pleased with what he saw on the video: "Handcuffing somebody mortally wounded and pulling somebody out of the car - that doesn't look to me like the very best tactic that we can use. I'm personally going to look very closely at that."

A more important question, he said during the TV interview, is "How does that (situation) escalate and go fatal?"

In both the television and Sun interviews Monday, the sheriff expressed concern that some of the recent shootings involved younger officers. McBride, 30, has worked for Metro since 2004.

In 10 of the last 11 shootings, the 14 officers who fired their weapons averaged about 8.7 years of Metro service, ranging from one officer who joined the force in January to another with 21 years.

"The thing that does concern me a little bit is the tenure," Young said during the TV interview, noting that officers who work the graveyard shift typically are newer to the job. "The longer you're on, the better your judgment is out there Experience does count in the policing business."

Regardless of age, however, officers are also encountering armed suspects with an increasing regularity, Young said. Last weekend, Young said, he heard of 10 or 11 calls in which officers arrived to find someone with a gun.