Wednesday headlines: one dead after crash with Metro patrol car, dummy used to catch suspected killer on display, CCSD budget miscue may be good news. Elaine Wilson/Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Friday’s headlines: Attorney admits to stealing $16 million, Commissioners approve plans for extreme sports park, NFL won’t investigate Bennett accusations
Thursday’s headlines: man receives settlement after country club snack lands him in hospital, two business closure at Palms, LVMPD responds to Michael Bennett’s accusations. Elaine Wilson/Las Vegas Review-Journal.
1. Officers identified a teenage suspect, De’Mario Lofton-Robinson, in the death of a CSN nursing student. Lofton-Robinson, 18, was arrested Thursday on multiple charges, including murder with a deadly weapon. Police say Gabriel George Valenzuela pulled into his driveway and checked his mail before getting into a confrontation with four men. He was shot at least 3 times in his driveway.
2. A federal judge cut a defendant’s testimony short in the middle of his Bunkerville standoff retrial. Before starting the trial, U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro barred the defense from referencing constitutional rights to assemble or bear arms and prosecutors objected to Eric Parker’s reference to a sniper being involved in the standoff. The court said Parker violated a court order in his testimony.
3. A naked man shot by police last Saturday had $30,000 with him. Court documents show that Jason Funke had donated to the Life Spring Christian Church before and police found the money with his clothing in the church doorway. Police say Funke appeared to be meditating outside the church when he approached police and then fled to retrieve a gun left on the ground.
Officer Kenneth Lopera is facing charges after Tashii Brown’s in-custody death was ruled a homicide. Lopera was told to let go of Brown by another officer, and continued the chokehold for over 40 seconds after. Elaine Wilson/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Three years ago Officers Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo were there on break eating their lunch, when Jerad and Amanda Miller walked into the restaurant and opened fire.
1. Alexis Plunkett’s lawyer Robert Langford withdrew his representation on Monday, leaving Plunkett in what she calls a “real monetary bind.” The criminal defense attorney who is facing felony charges after providing a cellphone to inmates told a judge Monday that she paid her lawyer more for a week’s worth of work than she paid herself all last month. Plunkett’s hearing is set for next month.
2. Former mixed martial arts fighter War Machine was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison after being convicted of more than two dozen charges in March. Also known as Jonathan Koppenhaver, War Machine was convicted of 29 counts, including sexual assault and first-degree kidnapping in connection with an attack on his ex-girlfriend Christine Mackinday back in August 2014.
3. The Las Vegas police officer who held Tashii Brown in an unauthorized chokehold for more than a minute before his death last month is now facing criminal charges. At an afternoon news briefing on Monday, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said officer Kenneth Lopera is facing felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and oppression under the color of office. Lopera’s arrest marks the first time in nearly three decades a Metro officer has faced charges in connection with a police shooting or in-custody death.
The ACLU and civil rights advocates sound off about the choke hold and Taser use by a Las Vegas police officer on Tashii Brown.
1. A Las Vegas police officer used a Taser on a man 7 times before using a chokehold for more than a minute Sunday before his death. According to police, officer Kenneth Lopera believed Tashi Brown was attempting to carjack someone outside of The Venetian when Lopera used a Taser on Brown 7 times, struck him and administered a chokehold before Brown became unresponsive. The driver of the truck says he didn’t feel he was being carjacked and Brown would not have faced any charges had he survived. Officer Lopera is currently on paid leave while Brown’s death is investigated.
2. Henderson police chief Patrick Moers faces an internal investigation after he sent out mailers to local businesses promoting Friends of Henderson Police Department Foundation, which Moers said was the department’s only authorized fundraising group. Henderson Mayor Debra March said she was concerned by the mailer and a spokesman with the police department says the city is reviewing its policies in regards to charitable activities.
3. UFC president Dana White and Conor McGregor have agreed on a deal to fight boxer Floyd Mayweather. White said late Wednesday that UFC and McGregor came to terms on a deal and now they must work on a deal with Mayweather’s team. Terms have yet to be released.
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1. A former Las Vegas nightclub promoter was acquitted Thursday of kidnapping and sexual assault charges. A 25-year-old woman testified that Frederick Richards took her to his home in Rhodes Ranch after meeting at Hyde nightclub, and that she awoke the next morning with her underwear across the room. Jurors said they felt the state couldn’t prove the woman’s testimony and that it wasn’t an easy decision to acquit Richards.
2. A man was shot and killed at a northwest Las Vegas apartment complex. Police were dispatched to Bloom Apartment Homes on Gowan Road near Tenaya Way at about 6 p.m. Thursday, where they found a man dead inside a car. Police are still investigating.
3. The Raiders are set to name a general contractor for a new Las Vegas stadium. Raiders president Marc Badain said Thursday that a contract has yet to be finalized, but that they’re working with a Minneapolis-based firm Mortensen Construction that is partners with McCarthy Building Companies in Henderson. A timeline released by the Stadium Authority estimates stadium groundbreaking by late December or early January.
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