Broken pieces of a car struck by a Nevada Highway Patrol cruiser litter the ground along Interstate 15 after the wreck that killed four people Feb. 19. The squad car was traveling at 113 mph at the time of the crash. Prosecutors allege the driver was racing home to eat dinner and take an online test. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

It was a deadly crash on Interstate 15 last month that confirmed, in the worst way, a suspicion some have had about those who patrol our roadways: They don't always practice what they preach.

Trooper Joshua Corcran was flying down I-15 near Sloan at an estimated 113 mph in his Nevada Highway Patrol squad car when he rear-ended a much slower-moving car, killing four people Feb. 19. And what was his rush? A bloody gunfight? A damsel in distress? A cat in a tree?

Nope. He was near the end of his shift and was in a hurry to get home, eat and take an online test, prosecutors allege. There were no emergency or even nonemergency calls to which Corcran was assigned, and his emergency lights and sirens were dark and inactive.

Authorities have insisted it's rare that any cop will abuse the traffic laws they are charged with upholding. But even before the wreck, every now and then I'd see a Las Vegas police squad car or a Highway Patrol cruiser fly by me, lights off and the world seemingly at peace.

And I'm not the only one. "And we wonder where Vegas drivers learn their tricks," R. Gill said in an e-mail. Last month, he said he was at the front of a platoon of cars on Martin Luther King Boulevard at Charleston Boulevard, waiting to turn left.

"When I looked forward again, a Las Vegas police motorcycle had pulled in front of me at the red light. Apparently, he rode down the middle between all the cars in the turn lanes to get to the front of the line," Gill wrote. "What was the emergency, you ask? Since I was going in the same direction to the same area, I was able to see that he was on his way to the (World) Market Center for his briefing to do crosswalk control later that morning for the furniture show.

"Give Metro my thanks for showing us that not only do citizens disregard traffic laws when they are late for work, but so do Las Vegas police officers," he wrote.

Agreed, said Anthony Baune.

"Many times I have been driving on city streets and the Beltway, probably over the posted speed limits, only to be passed by a police officer traveling 5 or 10 mph faster than I was going," Baune wrote. "I fully agree that Las Vegas drivers are some of the worst in the U.S., but shouldn't police officers set the example of safe driving?"

Police say they do use caution and wisdom, even if it doesn't always look that way. A motorcycle cop may go to the front of a line of stopped cars to get a better view of traffic behaviors at an intersection, for example. That might explain what Gill witnessed.

Or a sensitive call could require a stealthy approach. Before Amir Crump opened fire on police officers last month, killing Las Vegas police Sgt. Henry Prendes, some officers responded quickly but with lights and sirens off, presumably to not tip off Crump to their arrival.

"Sometimes, our driving is unusual. You have to get there fast. You have to get there silently" sometimes, said Capt. Tom Conlin, who heads the traffic detail for Las Vegas police, which investigated the Corcran crash and is by far Southern Nevada's largest law enforcement agency.

"Officers have to multitask," Conlin said. "Police officers drive a car. And look for crooks. And listen to the radio. There's a lot more they do than the average motorist going from point A to B."

State law has carved a narrow exception for cops to stretch traffic laws "when responding to an emergency call or when in pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law," among other situations, according to Section 484.261 of the Nevada Revised Statutes.

But that section calls for the use of lights, if not sirens, and its provisions "do not relieve the driver from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons and do not protect the driver from the consequences of his reckless disregard for the safety of others."

The Corcran crash reinforces that dry legalese, police said. "An accident like this tells every police officer, you have to drive as safely as possible," Conlin said. "We tell our officers all the time, be very careful all the time. Pay attention to what you're doing."

Conlin concedes there are bad apples with badges and lead feet. But not many of 'em.

"I've been around 26 years. I don't recall anything like this," Conlin said. "There are officers we've had to let go because they flat-out could not drive a car safely. That's very rare, though. I can only think of one person in my career where that's happened."

So, if a cop racing home for din-din looks just like a cop that's trying to stealthily get somewhere before a cop is killed, how are we supposed to be able to tell the difference? The truth of the matter is, we can't. We have to trust our officers to do the right thing.

So please, badged ones, don't abuse our trust. If for no other reason, you don't want to be in the hell inhabited today by Joshua Corcran.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call the Road Warrior at 387-2904, or e-mail him at roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com or OSofradzija@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.