Corrections officer with Metro killed in U.S. 95 crash

By Kyle B. Hansen

Published Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 | 11:38 a.m.

Updated Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 | 2:42 p.m.

A Metro Police corrections officer was killed in a vehicle accident this morning on U.S. 95 near Searchlight.

Officer Daniel Leach, 49, of Boulder City, was driving a prisoner transport vehicle from the Clark County Detention Center to the Tucker Holding Facility in Laughlin.

The accident occurred at 5:45 a.m. as Leach was driving southbound on U.S. 95 about a mile north of Searchlight.

Police said Leach’s vehicle collided with the second of two trailers on a semi-truck as the truck pulled out from a side street while making a left turn to go northbound on the divided highway.

Leach was killed instantly, police said. The driver and passenger of the truck weren't injured and there were no other passengers in the Metro vehicle.

Leach had worked for Metro as a corrections officer for 25 years.

Police released few other details about the crash during a Saturday afternoon news conference, such as whether speed was a factor, saying the investigation is continuing.

The driver of the truck hasn’t been arrested. Metro is the lead agency in the investigation and is working with the Nevada Highway Patrol.

This is the second Metro officer to die in three days. . Officer Trevor Nettleton was killed Thursday at his North Las Vegas home in what police say likely was a botched robbery attempt.

After this week’s deaths, the number of Metro officers killed in the last six months increases to four, three of whom died in traffic accidents.

Sheriff Doug Gillespie today said the department has developed new rules for officers driving police vehicles that will go into effect in early December, but he wouldn’t elaborate on those rules.

Although it has been a tough week for Metro, Gillespie said sympathy should go to the families of the fallen officers.

“I appreciate the concerns from the community, but it shouldn’t focus on me, it should focus upon the families that have lost those loved ones,” he said.

Leach was born in Willoughby, Ohio, and graduated from Southwood High School in Shreveport, La. He then studied marketing at Northeast College, now called Louisiana Monroe College, and after graduation moved to Las Vegas and was hired by Metro in June 1984.

He is survived by his wife Laura, son Christopher, daughter Alexandra, mother Sandra Leach, father James Leach, brother James Michael Leach and sister Audrey Rehmer.