Jury selection to continue Tuesday in fatal Metro car chase trial

By Dave Toplikar

Published Monday, May 16, 2011 | 4:09 p.m.

Updated Monday, May 16, 2011 | 5:17 p.m.

Jury selection will resume Tuesday morning in the trial of a former Metro officer accused of causing the death of a driver he was pursuing in a car chase almost a year ago through North Las Vegas streets.

Aron 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.

Police said Carpenter's vehicle collided with the suspect's Honda Civic on May 19, 2010, near the intersection of Lone Mountain Road and Lamb Boulevard in North Las Vegas, causing a crash that killed 27-year-old Ivan Carrillo.

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.

Clark County District Judge Elissa Cadish began jury selection Monday afternoon from a pool of 60 potential jurors. They were told the trial was expected to last through Friday. As of 5 p.m. Friday, attorneys and the judge had selected five of the 14 jurors and two alternates who will sit on the pool. The selection process was to resume at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Cadish's courtroom.

The prosecutor, Chief Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale, told the jury the state has about 15 witnesses, including several Metro officers and detectives.

Bret Whipple, Carpenter's attorney, indicated he would present about five witnesses and that Carpenter would testify in his own behalf.

According to arrest reports, after Carpenter's supervising sergeant told the two officers to stop the car chase three times, they allegedly continued to pursue Carrillo without using their emergency lights or sirens.

The sergeant told the officers to stop the pursuit because of public safety concerns. Because the Honda Civic possibly had been involved in a domestic violence situation earlier in the day, the sergeant decided police might instead be able to identify the suspect that way or by the vehicle's registration information, according to the police report.

Ubbens told Metro investigators that he unsuccessfully tried a common police pursuit maneuver, called a PIT maneuver, that would disable the Civic, according to the arrest report. Instead, officials allege the PIT maneuver didn't work and caused the suspect to only momentarily lose control.

Officials said Carpenter continued the pursuit once the suspect regained control and followed him to the intersection of Lamb Boulevard and Lone Mountain Road.

Carpenter and Carrillo's vehicles allegedly made contact, causing Carrillo to lose control of his Honda Civic and travel into oncoming traffic on Lamb Boulevard, where it was struck by Hottel's Ford Contour and caused a four-vehicle accident, according to the arrest report.

Carrillo and Hottel, the driver of the Ford Contour, were taken to University Medical Center, where Carrillo died a short time later, officials said. Police said a toxicology report later concluded that Carrillo had methamphetamine in his system, among other substances.

Investigators said Carpenter was driving about the same speed as Carrillo — 61 or 62 mph in a 45 mph zone — at the time of the collision, according to the arrest report.