Former Metro officer accused of ignoring commands testifies in fatal crash

By Dave Toplikar

Published Monday, July 18, 2011 | 3:47 p.m.

Updated Monday, July 18, 2011 | 6:46 p.m.

Former Metro Police Officer Aron Carpenter told a Clark County jury Monday that he did nothing wrong when he continued to follow Ivan Carrillo after his supervisors had told officers to stop the pursuit.

Carpenter said he obeyed the command: He shut off his siren and his flashing lights, slowed to the speed limit and began obeying all traffic laws.

However, he also continued following and testified he thought his patrol car eventually bumped into Carrillo's Honda. Just after that contact, Carrillo’s car ended up in a four-vehicle pileup that killed Carrillo and injured another driver near the intersection of Lone Mountain Road and Lamb Boulevard in North Las Vegas.

“I wouldn’t have done anything differently,” Carpenter told the jury about the May 19, 2010, pursuit. “We were doing our job. There was a danger to the public, with oncoming traffic, and as police officers, we need to do something.”

During cross examination, Deputy District Attorney L.J. O’Neal took Carpenter to task for reckless driving.

“If you don’t have your lights and sirens on and you’re chasing somebody down the road, in an ordinary citizen, we call that road rage, wouldn’t we?” O’Neal said, getting an objection for being argumentative by defense attorney Bret O. Whipple.

Carpenter testified for nearly an hour and a half Monday afternoon in his own defense. He stood in front of a video screen, taking the jury through the chase block by block, using a simulation of the route tied into a recording of the police radio traffic from that night.

Carpenter is one of two officers who prosecutors say ignored multiple orders from a sergeant to stop the chase after they initially were unable to pull the driver over for allegedly driving under the influence.

Carpenter’s trial, which started in May, was delayed because of a medical issue involving the prosecutor. The trial began again last week and is expected to continue Tuesday.

Carpenter, who was fired from Metro in March after having been on unpaid administrative leave since the incident, has been charged with two counts of felony reckless driving. One count of reckless driving was for Carrillo's death and the other count was for injuring Andrea Hottel, who was involved in the ensuing four-car pileup.

The other officer, Andrew Ubbens, pleaded no contest in January to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge and was fined $500 and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. Ubbens, who was also on unpaid administrative leave, has been reinstated during a probationary period.

Another driver called police the evening of May 19, 2010, reporting that Carrillo was driving slowly and erratically, straddling two lanes of traffic and making sudden stops, according to testimony.

A motorcycle officer first began following Carrillo and tried to get him to stop, using lights and sirens, but the officer said Carrillo continued driving.

Eventually two other police officers, including Carpenter, picked up the chase with their lights and sirens on. They then were ordered to discontinue the chase by their supervisor.

However, the officers followed Carrillo after turning off their lights and sirens. Ubbens testified he saw Carrillo begin to spin out at an intersection and head the wrong way into oncoming traffic. He said he used a "PIT" bumping maneuver to try to get Carrillo to lose control of his car so he could stop the vehicle.

Ubbens said he was called off the chase when the maneuver didn't work, and he pulled to the side of the road.

However, Carpenter said today that he drove by Ubben, saw he was OK, then continued to follow Carrillo's car.

Carpenter said Carrillo's Honda, which was northbound on Lamb Boulevard, suddenly slowed down quickly. Carpenter said he heard a bump on his patrol car after reaching the intersection of Lamb and Lone Mountain Road and thought his car might have made contact with the Honda.

The Honda then crossed over into the southbound lanes on Lamb, colliding with a Ford Contour driven by Andrea Hottel and a Dodge Ram 1500. The Dodge Ram then struck a Pontiac Grand Prix, police said.

Carrillo's spine was separated by the impact and he began bleeding internally, according to a medical examiner.

Carpenter said although he heard a bump when he was near the Honda there was no forensic evidence ever found that showed the two cars made contact.