Las Vegas police officer James Manor was not using his lights and sirens while responding to a domestic violence call May 7, the night he was killed in a traffic collision.
At a 3 p.m. news conference today, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie also said Manor was traveling more than 100 mph at the time of the collision.
Gillespie said charges against the other driver in the crash are being re-examined in light of the new information.
Manor was also not wearing a seat belt, Gillespie said.
Also, it was revealed that the blood alcohol level for Calvin Darling, initially charged with drunken driving in Manor's death, was .035 percent. A second blood test an hour later showed his level was .021 percent.
Darling's lawyer said last week his client saw no emergency lights and heard no sirens before turning in front of the oncoming patrol car.
Darling saw three oncoming vehicles before the crash, but they were a “sufficient distance away, which led him to believe that he could safely cross Flamingo,” the statement from Sean P. Sullivan said.
Darling, an engineer at Bellagio, turned his pickup truck left in front of a patrol car driven by Manor, 28, who died shortly after the violent collision at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Ravenwood Drive, near Tenaya Way just a few blocks from Darling’s house.
At a news conference the day of the crash, Gillespie was emphatic that two patrol cars had lights and sirens on as they headed to the domestic violence call.
Under the Metropolitan Police Department’s policy, officers can drive with lights and sirens, called Code 3, in four situations, including responding to a felony in progress, an officer who needs help in a volatile situation and a call where a citizen’s life could be in danger.
If a patrol car is not responding Code 3, the officer is required to use due care and observe traffic laws, he said at the time.
Before making his left turn, Darling checked the oncoming traffic and saw no lights, his lawyer’s statement said.
After the crash he told investigators he had “three or four beers,” police said. He smelled of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test that measures eye movements, leading to charges of drunken driving causing death and failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. He was released from jail a day later when a test revealed his blood-alcohol content was under the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
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http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may/20/police-officer-killed-crash-drove-109-mph-no-light/
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