Joy ride an expensive trip

The 18-year-old son of a Clark County Fire Department deputy chief has been placed on two years probation for taking his father's department vehicle for a joy ride and wrecking it and another car.

As part of the probation, District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski ordered Dustin Kourim to perform 100 hours of community service and pay $28,000 in restitution -- at a rate of $150 a month -- for the damage he caused. If he violates the terms of the probation, he is facing six months in the county jail.

Kourim pleaded guilty on April 13 to a gross misdemeanor count of unlawfully taking a vehicle on March 19, 1997.

Kourim took his father's car keys out of a briefcase, and he and his stepbrother took the county-owned Ford Bronco for a joy ride.

But at the intersection of Paradise and Robindale roads just before midnight, the Bronco collided with a BMW, flipping over the Bronco and pushing the BMW into a block wall. The Bronco landed upside down.

Kourim and his stepbrother, whose name was not released because he is an uncharged minor, ran away. Police said they were seen trying to steal a 1946 Chevrolet truck for their escape and were trying to pull out its ignition. They caused about $400 in damage. An undercover narcotics officer witnessed the attempt and started toward them, but the teenagers ran away again, police said.

When the teenagers arrived home, Dustin Kourim's father, Deputy Fire Chief William Kourim, drove the pair back to the crime scene.

Augustus Almendral's BMW was a total loss, and he had been slightly injured.

David Funderlich's wall sustained $5,000 worth of damage from the accident.

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