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Published Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 | 6:59 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 | 4:43 p.m.
Suncoast Casino
UPDATED STORY: Police: 2 arrested after chase had stolen car, officer’s gun
Metro Police identified two people Tuesday afternoon who were arrested earlier in the morning after a high-speed chase that ended at the Suncoast Casino.
Jason James Dillinger, 32, the driver of the vehicle, is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, evading a police officer, assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and five counts of possession of stolen property. Ashley Ann Shaheen, 27, the passenger, faces two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle and one count of conspiracy to commit carrying a concealed weapon.
Television news helicopters followed the pursuit, which began at about 6 a.m., as the driver led Metro Police through Las Vegas Valley highways and residential streets. The chase lasted nearly an hour.
Metro Police Lt. Chris Tomaino said the incident started as an auto burglary investigation in the 4200 block of South Grand Canyon Drive. Authorities tried to pull over the white Scion, but Dillinger wouldn't stop the vehicle, police said.
Officers in police cruisers eventually pulled back from the pursuit -- following the vehicle at a greater distance -- and used a helicopter to track the vehicle, Tomaino said. The vehicle led police through North Las Vegas and along parts of U.S. 95 and Interstate 15.
The pursuit ended after about an hour when the driver entered the parking garage at Suncoast Casino, 9090 Alta Drive. Tomaino said Dillinger got out of the car, ran into the casino and was stopped by a security guard.
He then pointed a gun at the security guard before his arrest, police said. No injuries were reported during the pursuit or at the casino.
Shaheen also was taken into custody at the time.
Located on a 50-acre plot in northwest Las Vegas, Suncoast has something for the whole family — a hotel, a casino, a bowling center, restaurants and a movie theater.
The 64-lane bowling alley, arcade and movie theater cater to guests of all ages. The 500-seat showroom hosts a variety of headliners. Restaurants such as SC Prime Steakhouse and Bar, Cafe Siena and The Oyster Bar give guests a variety of options.
The casino measures in at 80,000 square feet with 2,400 video and slot machines, 37 table games, a 150-seat race and sports book and a 600-seat bingo hall.
Suncoast also includes full salon services at Pure Salon, a pool, fitness center and the resort is only steps away from the some of the best golfing in Las Vegas.
"The pursuit started in the area of Fort Apache Road and Sahara Avenue, then the driver led police through North Las Vegas..."
Either the suspects were totally lost since going from Fort Apache and Sahara to North Las Vegas is WAY out of the way or they were desperate to get away. Luckily, no one was injured or killed.
And did they really think they were going to shake the cops?
These police chases are, generally speaking, silly episodes of "Keystone Cops".
Unless an imminent threat to public safety is involved, it is certainly more dangerous to the public to have a chase ensue than to simply wait to arrest the morons.
Most departments have Do Not Chase policies, and most are routinely ignored.
@gmag39
Before you make a statement about Police Policy regarding Police Pursuits, do your homework and read the Policy.
They didn't chase. They kept and eye on him from the sky and when he went in the Suncoast they arrested him.
This is the way to do a chase. Have the helicopter follow the car until it parks or runs out of gas, keeping the ground cars from chasing the car and possibly causing a crash. If Gilespie has finally figured this out, I could possibly vote for him again.
Tony,
Already have. What's your point?
Kinda hard to shake the cops from above especially in broad daylight and the fact that there is nothing out there but open road. It doesn't always happen like in the movies.
and where are sherp and vegasstudent getting their information that helicopters did the chasing? Not in this story. It says the newsies followed the pursuit, not that they pursued, though I'd assume the coppers had a chopper up too.
Drives me crazy when people start talking about things they have no clue about. Who cares about "generally speaking" we care about what happened here. I watched the chase on TV and I though Metro handled it correctly. They did not do a hot pursuit, they kept their distance and then they sealed the garage when they had a chance. Metro should be complimented for what they did rather than some esoteric discourse on the the evils of police chases else where.
Then you would know Police Pursuits aren't against policy. A police pursuit is warranted if the suspect has committed a felonious act and the officer takes into consideration type of crime (crime against property or person), traffic, speed, road conditions and if a police helicopter is available or not can pursue the vehicle.
Amazing,
Apparently, you haven't lived here long enough, or don't care about, all of the follies involving local law enforcement and their driving habits. Death and destruction isn't general or esoteric. My opinion is, most police chases are unnecessary and cause unnecessary risk to the officers and the public...
That said, I'm glad this one worked out well!
Tony,
I understand that entirely.
When I said Do Not Chase Policies, perhaps I should have said "chase policies". mea culpa.
gmag39 ~~ Apparently, you don't get out of the state much . . .
The only time anyone has ever escaped police on a chase I believe was in LA, when a guy was being chased on his motorcycle by Highway Patrol. He went into the Burbank Mall parking garage, dumped his bike on one of the levels, dropped his jacket and helmet and disappeared into the mall. The only problem was the cops were able to trace his License plate and Vin # to his residence in nearby Sun Valley where they arrested him the next morning. The moral of the story here is unless your willing to pull a Thelma and Louise, your NEVER going to get away!
i think if you run from the cops, it should be an automatic life sentence.
the resources used to catch these people is too great on an already stressed system and almost always somewhere down the line, they will commit crimes again, so lets nip it in the bud while we have a chance.
"Kinda hard to shake the cops from above especially in broad daylight"
This didn't happen in broad daylight. It was still relatively dark outside.
The bottom line is that they got caught and now they are in jail were they belong.
I agree there should be a life sentence for people who instigate police chases. But, that would be unrealistic. How about minimum five year sentence for people involved in police chases. But, the justice systems in Nevada are too weak for that. Sad.
What initiated the pursuit?
Did pursuers' violate any public safety laws?
What citations were issued upon arrest?
Why aren't the subjects' names available?
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Harley, you Joe Friday or somethin?
stevem - that life sentence idea sounds very nazi like to me. sad how so many people would like to see our country turned into a nazi german like country. how about life sentences for people speeding and endangering others, guess we would have no need for anything in society cause we would all be locked up. we have way to many laws trying to tell people whats right and wrong that its getting ridiculous. we must get away from the desire for a police state because eventually they will come for all of us at some point. get out and vote against anybody endorsed by any main stream news media. vote Ron Paul if you would like the U.S. Constitution restored along with all our rights and our freedoms. vote against all dems and repubs currently holding office and anyone with ties to any of them.
stevem,
About that life sentence. Let's say 50 years x $40k a eyar = 2 million. You are going to pay that right? Because otherwise, that itself would be a big stress to the system.
The police are already out there and getting their salary. Unless they wreck a cruiser, I don't see the additional cost. I bet half of them love it when someone runs.
goingbust...
only half? The adrenaline buzz alone will get em' going given half a chance...
I have seen a few wrecked cruisers from chases...
believe me, it happens a LOT. Sometimes, they even crash into each other... most of the time, due to speed, the cruisers are totaled...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_chase
The TV news-copter and metro copters risk the lives of the public needlessly. Two such copters crashed in a midair collision in Phoenix killing all onboard two tears ago.
This was a simple auto break-in, and the media a metro made a big deal of it for nothing be ratings and METRO MACHO MADNESS.
It is also a waste of taxpayer money.
The criminal made a big mistake pointing a gun at the casino's security guard. It's going to add years to his sentence.
This wasn't a "simple auto break-in." These were criminals with a weapon. If it was "simple" they should have pulled over.
...Surprised some right-wing poster didn't blame this police car chase on illegal immigration like every other problem in this state.
I was driving to work this morning and had 9 metro cars pass me flying towards the summerlin parkway and then i counted another 7 going the other way up the 95 towards the summerlin pkwy. as i said they were all FLYING(saints are going to superbowl so pigs do fly,lol thank you thank you im here all night) and could have easily caused an accident. So just wondering how many officers actually responded to this one vehicle and these 2 people???? i've heard over 50 patrol cars responded... Is'nt that like the biggest waste of OUR tax dollars ever??? and after all that, it was a security guard that actually apprehended the suspect(s). does anyone else see a problem with this???
@mred
Do you not realize that by state law, this "simple auto break-in" is a felony crime? If you don't enforce the laws, what keeps everyone from committing crimes?
@Incognito
I see no problem with it! Numerous patrol cars responded in case they were needed for traffic control or setting up a perimeter to contain the suspects. That is exactly what happened. The suspect vehicle entered a parking garage attached to a casino. Responding units set up a perimeter to contain the suspects so they couldn't flee the area. Once the area is contained, K-9 begins their search.
In this situation, patrol cars were far behind the suspect vehicle purposely. The reason is so the suspect doesn't drive 100 mph and danger the lives of others on the road. The suspect was able to enter the parking garage and exit the vehicle without any officers directly behind him because of the lagged pursuit. So your statement of the security guard apprehending the suspect has no merit.
From what I saw and heard, this was text book. Excellent job by Metro!
The REAL amazing part of this whole story is that Scion could actually 'do' sustained speeds of 80 to 90 MPH without that gerbil dieing under the hood.
Yeah right,, A toaster on wheels doing 80 to 90,,, have to see it to believe it... Im just curious to know how you get charged with a concealed weapon when your arrested pointing it at a rentacop... Anyways he would have more than likely got away if rentacop wouldnt have been so nosey...So Tony the rentacop theory sounds like it has some merit and if you were there and witnessed the incident then I would say otherwise...
Not a single scratch mark nor a Metro patrol vehicle colliding into anything - Amazing !
Judging by the looks of these two tweaker suspects, it matches the scenario of fear and loathing in Las Vegas.
Hats off to Las Vegas Metro Police and Suncoast Security for detaining these two morons, and glad no one was injured during the pursuit, hopefully the owner of the vehicle will have his/her property returned with no damages.
Brandishing a deadly weapon at a security guard was pretty weak, if I were in that situation and was armed, I would have put a cap in his azz if/when given the chance.
So Paul Blart casino cop took care of business huh? Must have offered them the EDR food and subjects just gave up.
This genius pulled a gun on a security guard inside the casino. Nothing like getting caught on camera at your dumbest.
NOTE TO acrosby85254: Now, that's funny!!!
Metro did a good job on this one. But, I suspect the charges are a bit much, as usual.
here's the deal...
if you made it a TRUE life sentence...no parole, no early out...a TRUE life sentence from running from the cops...how many people would REALLY do it?
not many.
this is the problem we have with crime in this country. we give too many "second chances" and "third chances" to criminals until finally they kill a courthouse guard or kidnap and kill a child, or vote democrat.
stevem :
I think you are hopelessly brainwashed on the conservative philosophy. Don't you realize that we just came out of eight years of conservative government which ended with our collapsed economy, two unresolved expensive and deadly wars in the Middle East which are bankrupting our country's riches. Obama ond the rest of his lame administration and Democratic party aren't doing us any better. Perhaps you should direct your militant attacks towards BOTH parties which have screwed us over royally and start supporting the Independent party.
Pardon me while I laugh. They really thought they could outrun anybody in a Scion??? Well, I guess my husband will be seeing Mr. Dillinger(coincidence he is J. James Dillinger?)when he is assigned his permanent home. LOL
So, what kind of rig did your husband snag up in order to get his permanent timeshare ?
All high speed chases should be banned. This was so local media could get ratings. Metro Macho Madness and media feeding frenzy.
If an auto break in is such a priority, then why doesn't Metro come out and investigate and make a report? They make people go downtown to make a complaint.
they'll be back out on the streets in no time
@MRED: Are you serious? You are obviously not a critical thinker. These two criminals most likely broke into several homes and cars in the valley through out their lives. This time, someone was able to catch them in the act the the police were able to locate them. At the time of the inital traffic stop, it was clear the vehicle was stolen by the license plate number and the occupants were suspects in an auto burglary. If this had been any other juridiction, including highway patrol, a high speed chase would have been initiated. However, Metro demostrated restraint and professionalism in their actions. Also, there is a clear difference between an auto burglary in progress and on that happened hours or days earlier. Metro responds to thousands of calls a day and taking an auto burglary report is not something urgent. Metro's station report policy is no different then any other jurisidiction in the country.
MRED, for some reason you are anti-police and I believe it is due to you being a criminal or you had a bad experience with the police department that was most likely due to your lack of understanding of Metro policy or the law. Not their fault you are a little slow. Forgive any grammer or spelling errors as I do not have time to proof read right now.
Everyone on here acts like this type of incident does not happen daily in Las Vegas. This time the news copters were around. Metro does an outstanding job at safely and quickly catching the bad guy that their actions never usually make the news.
Las Vegas is a high crime city. Metro catches hundreds of felons weekly, gets hundreds of guns off the streets, and there are foot pursuits and car chases all the time. If Metro let people get away, then there would be no fear in bad guys about getting caught and eventually everyone's house on the block will get broken into. Metro responds to 3000-4000 calls for service daily and none are in the news unless something negative occurs. If every major incident Metro was involved in daily was in the news, that is all you would read. The reason you are all remotely safe is because Metro is doing such a good job
Is the perp a member of the James gang or the Dillinger gang or both?
mred,
How did metro make a big deal out of it? Foxnews picked up the coverage from the local fox station, who got their info on the incident from the police scanners they monitor. It's not like Metro called Foxnews and told them to follow the pursuit. So, based on your philosophy, the can continue stealing things, breaking into houses and pointing stolen guns at people as long as they want? The whole idea of stopping for police can be optional??? How would anyone ever get caught for committing crimes? Metro didn't do anything more of less than any other big police department in the nation would've done. It is a shame that there are scum out there that prey on people and can't take responsibility for their actions. Of course, it is the Metro's fault that these creeps stole cars, property and threatened people with a gun. mred, better hope these dirt bags don't break into your house after they make bail.
I just happened to be listening to my scanner when this chase began and listen until its conclusion and it was the helicopter pilot that was on this guy like glue. He did an amazing job informing the Metro just where this guy was at all times. Kudos to the helicopter pilot....nice job!!!!