Police: Injured officer making improvements after shooting

By Cara McCoy

Published Thursday, March 25, 2010 | 3:15 p.m.

Updated Thursday, March 25, 2010 | 4:59 p.m.

A Metro Police officer shot in the leg Tuesday by a suspected car thief is making improvements after numerous surgeries, police said Thursday.

Officer Mike Madland, 31, was shot twice while chasing a fleeing suspect who authorities said had been inside a stolen vehicle minutes earlier.

Madland, a three-year veteran of the force and a member of Metro’s saturation patrol, was shot twice: once in his bulletproof vest, which the round didn’t penetrate, and in his leg, where the bullet struck an artery. He was rushed to University Medical Center, where remains in critical condition after a number of surgeries.

Metro said doctors are hopeful his condition will improve to the point where he can undergo an additional surgery later Thursday.

New details emerged in the shooting Thursday with the release of an arrest report for one of two men police say was in the stolen car Madland and his partner were pursuing.

The second suspect, who police say fired the shots at Madland, was shot and killed by Madland’s partner, police said Wednesday. He was identified Wednesday by Metro as 26-year-old Damon Beal.

Marvin Lee Wilson, 45, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on counts of resisting a police officer, possession of a stolen vehicle and driving on a revoked license in connection with Tuesday's incident.

He is also being held on an unrelated petit larceny case, for which he appeared this morning in Las Vegas Justice Court. He is scheduled to appear in connection with the charges stemming from Tuesday’s incident on Friday morning in front of Justice of the Peace Deborah Lippis.

According to the arrest report, a woman reported at about 8 a.m. that her gray Mercedes Benz had been stolen. Police entered the vehicle’s information into the police wanted-vehicle system shortly before noon. At about 8:53 p.m., the vehicle was found and officers tried to pull it over at the intersection of Antelope Way and Charleston Boulevard, the report said. The vehicle failed to stop for the patrol car’s lights and sirens and continued north along Antelope.

Four minutes later, officers received permission to conduct a Pursuit Immobilization Technique, or PIT, maneuver to stop the vehicle, disabling the Mercedes at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Dolores Drive, the report stated.

After police stopped the Mercedes, the two men inside “bailed out of the vehicle,” the report said. One man, later identified as Wilson, ran northbound but was caught by officers. The second man, identified as Beal, began running.

Beal died from two gunshot wounds to the head, police said Wednesday.

The report further stated that Beal jumped the wall at a home on Dolores, with an officer in pursuit. The officers aren’t identified in the report, but police on Wednesday gave an overview of events that indicated Madland pursued Beal. The second officer joined in the pursuit and when he entered the backyard, he "heard shots fired and found a LVMPD officer partially lying on the suspect." The second officer “saw the suspect pointing a black semi-automatic handgun at the downed officer” then “fired at the suspect to neutralize the threat against the downed officer.”

Metro will release the name of the second officer within 48 hours of the shooting, which is standard department policy.

Metro has organized two blood drives next week in honor of Madland.

On Monday, a bloodmobile will be accepting blood donations in the parking lot at UMC from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Tuesday, donations will be accepted at Las Vegas City Hall from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the HR Training Room on the second floor.

Metro said it had received hundreds of phone calls from citizens wishing to donate blood for Madland and stressed the blood drives were replacement drives and blood wasn’t urgently needed.

Madland is married and has a 4-year-old son. He joined the department in 2007.

Police said Wilson has a criminal history in Clark County including arrests in 2009 for drunken driving, obstructing a police officer and having an open container a vehicle; as well as for no proof of insurance and operating an unregistered vehicle. Past arrests also included drunken driving, possession of stolen property and burglary.

Beal also had repeated run-ins with the justice system – police said he had been arrested for possession of a controlled substance and embezzled vehicle. He also had several misdemeanor traffic offenses in his record, police said.

Authorities said both men had other arrests on charges that were later either dismissed or denied.