Fallen Las Vegas cop was driving 109MPH with no lights or siren

[Bluebear]

"We didn't interview the secondary officer because it was a traumatic event"....good gravy, but they certainly arrested the civilian driver and smeared his name accross the news. The "secondary officer" is Stuart Bowman. He is the one who told secondary responders the lights and sirens were on. (He also turned his own lights and sirens on AFTER the accident.)


=====

In the moments before officer James Manor plowed into a pickup attempting a left turn, he was driving his patrol car 109 mph without flashing lights or siren, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie said Wednesday.

The speed was the equivalent of traveling the length of a football field in about two seconds. It gave Manor little time to avoid hitting Calvin Darling's truck May 7. At the time of impact, after braking and trying to steer out of the way, Manor was still driving 90 mph.

Gillespie called Manor's speed in the 45-mph zone on Flamingo Road "excessive and unsafe," even if his lights and siren had been on. The facts of the accident probably will alter the charges Darling faces, the sheriff said.

"The facts that we have I think certainly change the charges that are there," a stern Gillespie said in an afternoon news conference. "We do believe his speed was a significant factor in what took place in this accident. So yes, we are looking at those original charges."...

The information about the lack of lights and siren on Manor's patrol car reversed what Gillespie first said after the accident. The sheriff initially was adamant that Manor and an officer in a second patrol car were on their way to a call with lights and sirens on.

The investigation now shows that the second officer also was not running lights or a siren,Gillespie said. The second officer's speed has not been determined.

Gillespie said that when he addressed the media many hours after the accident, he had been given incorrect information by first responders to the crash. They said Manor and the second officer had their lights and sirens on.

"They were there right after it, and they thought that that's what they were told," the sheriff said. "And we didn't interview the secondary officer right away because it was a very traumatic event."

The department will review and change how it collects and releases information after fatal accidents involving officers, Gillespie said. He said the department wasn't considering disciplinary action against those officers who relayed the information.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/breaking_news/45619762.html

[Hepburn]

1. Jeeeeeeeeez.........

......:puke: I hate bullshit like this!

[cloudbase]

2. If it's confirmed that Bowman was lying,

he should be fired and have his certification(s) revoked.

[Fumesucker]

3. The cop wasn't wearing a seat belt either..

One hundred and nine miles per hour, no lights, no siren, no seat belt..

:wow:

[imdjh]

4. I'm sorry the officer died, but there are two important issues here which can't be ignored

#1 is that the police need to find a balance between getting there quickly and the safety of the public and themselves.

#2 is charging a citizen with DUI and the accident when the cause was clearly the behavior of the officer involved.

[MadMaddie]

5. This type of accident is why if I am first in line and the light turns

green I wait until cross traffic is actually stopped. Sometimes you can't gauge the actual speed of the oncoming cars.

It's too bad a life was lost. I am glad the department came clean though another mans life was close to being destroyed.

Maybe I missed it but was the officer going to a call? If not why was he speeding like this?

[Bluebear]

6. He was indeed going to a domestic violence call.

Usually this type of recklessness has happened pursuing other vehicles, not answering calls, though.

[MadMaddie]

7. I could see if he didn't have the sirens on but not to have the lights

on and going through an intersection is a problem.