Monday, Dec. 2, 2013 | 11:42 a.m.
A Nevada Highway Patrol trooper acted “reasonably and lawfully” in pursuing a man last year on the 215 Beltway before the man jumped a barrier and fell to his death, according to Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson.
In a news release this morning, Wolfson called the Sept. 7, 2012, death of Alejandro Sanchez-Escoto “tragic” but found nothing criminal about Trooper Nicholas Montgomery’s actions.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 7, emergency dispatchers received reports of a man walking on the southbound lanes of the freeway. Montgomery responded to the call and saw Sanchez-Escoto on the 215 Beltway near Decatur Boulevard.
According to testimony last month at a Police Fatality Public Fact-Finding Review:
Montgomery parked his patrol vehicle on the right side of the road and saw Sanchez-Escoto jump a short wall and run eastbound through a construction area. Montgomery ordered the man to stop, but he refused. The trooper fired his department‐issued Taser, but Sanchez-Escoto apparently was not struck and continued to run.
Sanchez-Escoto then jumped over a second wall and fell to his death more than 26 feet onto the southbound lanes of Decatur.
An autopsy by the Clark County Coroner’s Office determined Sanchez-Escoto died from blunt force injury of the head due to the impact of the fall and ruled the manner of death was an accident. The autopsy report added that significant contributing factors included toxic psychosis due to methamphetamine intoxication.
Wolfson said the case could be re-examined if new information came to light.
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