Accident probe focuses on police car's speed

An ongoing investigation into a head-on collision involving a Metro Police officer has isolated speed and travel lane placement as factors in the death of local magician Anthony Brazil.

Evidence at the scene indicates that Officer Edward V. Jones' patrol car was northbound in a southbound lane on Industrial Road, its lights and sirens activated, when the accident occurred early Saturday morning, said Metro Detective Tim Babcock.

Jones, 35, has been with Metro a little more than two years and is assigned to the southwest area command. The collision happened while Jones was en route to the Arville Park Apartments in the 2600 block of Arville Street, near Pennwood Avenue, on an emergency call.

Dispatchers had sent Jones to the complex after receiving a call from a security guard, described in Metro's log as out of breath and asking for help with an escalating domestic violence situation after a man in the dispute returned to the property with a gun and a knife, Lt. Rick Alba, Metro spokesman, said.

The security guard's call came in at 12:40 a.m. Jones and Brazil collided three minutes later at Industrial and Oquendo roads. Jones' initial location at the time he was dispatched was not available.

Investigators believe Jones' patrol car was exceeding the 35 mph posted speed limit while en route to the call, but an official speed estimate is still pending. Evidence at the scene indicated that the black-and-white cruiser crossed the center travel lane, striking the motorcyclist head-on, Babcock said.

There are several curves in the road where the accident occurred, but investigators could not confirm if such a curve was a factor in the crash.

Brazil, 34, died instantly. Jones was treated for minor head injuries.

Brazil, a Las Vegas resident, had portrayed Octavius in the Caesars Magical Empire since the magic stage show opened at Caesars Palace hotel-casino in June 1996. He was remembered by Caesars spokeswoman Debbie Munch as one of the show's top performers and an audience favorite.

At the time of the crash, Jones was traveling under "code 3," having activated his lights and siren.

Metro's policy permits officers to activate lights and sirens when involved in a pursuit, traveling to a scene where a citizen is in imminent danger and a police officer's presence could save a life, or when police are needed to control a volatile situation. Police also can travel "code 3" to where there has been an accident and the injuries are unknown, and in felony situations where a call may still be in progress.

Code 3 status further permits officers to exceed the posted speed limit, although they must do so by driving in what the manner refers to as a "reasonable and prudent" fashion given existing road and traffic conditions, according to the policy manual.

The ongoing investigation, which will be forwarded to the district attorney's office where completed, prohibits police from commenting directly on the case. However, Alba generalized that officers are within their legal rights to exceed the speed limit in "code 3" situations, and, at times, have to resort to crossing the center line when traveling to calls warranting an officer's immediate response.

"It would depend upon the circumstances that caused you to drive code 3," Alba said. "There are so many variables -- what time of day it is, what the road conditions are, the type of call you are responding to, the terrain. But none of those preclude an officer from operating within the confines of department policy and state law."

All Metro commissioned officers recertify their driving skills every two years through a department administered driver's training course -- a one-day, eight-hour session focusing on skills, traffic rules and practicing driver technique.

Jones was one of three officers involved, and later cleared of any wrong-doing, in the death of Gerry Waje in September 1996. Jones had been on the force six months when, early on that Sunday morning, Waje, armed with two steak knives, charged down the sidewalk toward the officers who had been called to the home by Waje's family to take the 31-year-old man to the hospital for medical help.

A coroner's inquest determined the officers fired at Waje in self-defense. Waje died near the driveway of his home in The Lakes.

Saturday's tragedy marked the third Metro-involved traffic fatality in the agency's 25-year history.

Officer Terry Bernard received a 120-hour suspension without pay as a result of a fatal crash Jan. 19, 1995, in The Lakes. Bernard ran a stop sign while en route to back up another officer, killing Alexandra Griffin, 41, when the patrol car hit her Mercedes at Lake South and Grand Canyon drives.

Metro Officer Clark Anthony Woolridge was killed Aug. 12, 1979, in a traffic collision in Paradise Valley while responding to a call.

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