In Las Vegas, yesterday, a man was stopped by police for a routine traffic violation and then allegedly fled on foot when police tried to arrest him after finding that he was subject to a misdemeanor warrant.
An officer tried to use a Taser. When that failed to stop the suspect, the officer shot him, striking three times.
The suspect is in the hospital under guard.
The man is a lawyer and has run for Congress as a Libertarian.
A friend told the newspaper that he has a concealed weapons permit and also works as a shooting instructor. He apparently did not use a weapon during the incident. However, a police spokesman stated that he was armed.
Weird. I can't get any of the LVRJ pages about this case to load. All their other articles load just fine, but this one (and one where he's been charged) will only open a blank frame. All the ads and formatting are there, but there's no text.
I don't know what your technical problem is. I use Firefox on Windows XP SP2.
The story changed since the first time I read it. They're now saying that the suspect drew his weapon. I'm going to quote the whole story in case they change it again:
A friend and former colleague of a man shot by Las Vegas police after fleeing from an officer confirmed Saturday the wounded man is a local attorney who last year ran unsuccessfully for Congress on the Libertarian ticket.
The friend, a lawyer who did not want to be identified, last worked with Raymond James Duensing during the summer of 2007.
He said he spoke by phone Saturday morning with Duensing, who was recovering from his injuries at University Medical Center.
The friend said Duensing was being guarded in his hospital room by police and therefore was cautious about talking about the incident during their conversation.
The friend said Duensing, known to acquaintances as Jim, had wounds on his back and arm after being shot three times.
He added that he was surprised Duensing was shot by police Thursday afternoon after a routine traffic stop near Cheyenne Avenue and Jones Boulevard.
"I've known Jim for years. He's not a nut. He's not the kind of guy who's going to flee from police."
Police said the officer fired his weapon after Duensing was asked to get out of his Pontiac rental car because a records check indicated he had a misdemeanor warrant for his arrest.
Police said Duensing then fled and was unsuccessfully Tased and shot several times after he reached in his front pocket for a .45-caliber handgun. Police also said Duensing reached for a large folding knife.
"He was Tased. He did tell me that," Duensing's friend said. "I think when the officer Tased him, it scared the crap out of him. I don't think he expected to be Tased over a traffic stop."
The friend said Duensing didn't tell him if he had carried a weapon during the shooting. But he said Duensing does have a concealed weapons permit and also works at a gun range as a shooting instructor.
Police said in a news release that Duensing is 31, but Clark County Detention Center records, where he was booked in absentia on a charge of resisting a public officer with a weapon, indicated he's 33.
The friend said Duensing told him he was pulled over because he drove through an intersection in a right-turn-only lane.
He said Duensing expects to be released from the hospital in two or three days and has obtained an attorney.
Duensing unsuccessfully ran for Congress against Shelley Berkley, D-Nev, in 2008, 2006 and 2004, generally garnering 2 percent to 3 percent of the vote.
Clark County Libertarian Party chairman Nathan Santucci said Duensing was the party's state chairman until earlier this year.
"The Libertarian Party does not advocate fleeing from police as a means of peaceful conflict resolution," Santucci said. "Although he is a past officer of our party, he currently holds no official standing with our party as an elected officer. Our thoughts go out to him, his family and the officer involved in the incident."
Metropolitan Police Department policy is to release the identity of an officer who fires a weapon in the line of duty within 48 hours. As of Saturday afternoon, the identity of the officer involved in the shooting hadn't been released. The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
One witness to the incident questioned whether Duensing had a gun.
Brandi Burks, 19, said she was standing outside her apartment complex on Cheyenne, west of Michael Way, when the shooting took place.
Burks said motorcycle officers had been patrolling the street heavily on Thursday, pulling over speeders.
Burks said a motorcycle officer stopped Duensing's car on the far right lane of eastbound Cheyenne, near Michael Way.
The officer asked the driver to step out of the vehicle. Duensing stepped out and began running northwest across Cheyenne, Burks said. The officer told Duensing to stop, she said, but he kept running.
As he was running, he kept grabbing his pants, as if to hold them up, Burks said. She did not see a gun.
She saw the officer fire his gun at Duensing when he reached the sidewalk. He went down, and officers handcuffed him.
Capt. Randy Montandon, who briefed the media at the scene after the Thursday shooting, said he saw Duensing's gun.
According to Las Vegas police policy, police can use deadly force based on the severity of the crime, whether the suspect is a threat to the officer or others and whether the suspect is actively resisting arrest or attempting to avoid arrest by fleeing.
Very odd story. I wonder if Duensing has some other issues that haven't made print yet, like mental illness or drugs or business problems getting of control. Like Seamus said, normally you wouldn't expect a lawyer to have an arrest warrant for a misdemeanor. Nor would I expect him to run away from a traffic stop, even knowing about the warrant. Unless there are mental issues or something bigger in the background.
As to whether the cop knew he had a gun and a knife before he shot him... who knows. If the cop had run his license and discovered the arrest warrant, he likely knew about the CHL permit, I would think. Will have to see it play out.
ELB wrote:Very odd story. I wonder if Duensing has some other issues that haven't made print yet, ...
That was my first thought.
When someone who has been law-abiding through middle age gets into this kind of situation, it usually follows some serious change in his circumstances.
"LAS VEGAS -- An attorney who plans to challenge Sen. Harry Reid in 2010 claimed his recent arrest during a traffic stop in Las Vegas left him with a broken arm."
LOL... what? That's horrible journalism, and horrible writing. The facts of the incident might be in dispute, but there's no need to couch terms here: being shot while being arrested did leave him with a broken arm. There's no "claim" about it.
None of us have any idea what actually happened (I'd sure welcome some dash-cam footage!), so I won't comment on whether the arrest or use of force were justified. That was some horrible news writing, though.
Nearly all news is second-hand or third-hand information, unless the reporter saw events occur with his own eyes.
Reporters hear that something happened, interview witnesses, and in a case like this request police reports. Standard journalistic practice is to state the source of the information.
In this case, everyone involved agrees that the man was Tasered. He says he didn't provoke the police. They say he resisted arrest.
Only a physician can say that his arm is broken, and that information is confidential unless the patient authorizes its release or it is subpoenaed.
Quite a bit of this reportage is what an unnamed friend of Mr. Duensing says he heard.
I guess that is another reason I generally keep my hands in plain sight if I am pulled over. It sucks, but it might be a necessary precaution.
Not sure what happened here, but If was just pulled over for speeding and suddenly I was getting tased, I would want to get out of there and find another officer pretty quick. I'm sure there is more to this story though.
Police said Duensing then fled and was unsuccessfully Tased and shot several times after he reached in his front pocket for a .45-caliber handgun. Police also said Duensing reached for a large folding knife.
A .45 and a large folding knife in the same pocket? Guess he left his bazooka in his other pants.
