Man runs Hoover Dam checkpoint; surrenders to police

A standoff that briefly closed Hoover Dam on Tuesday afternoon ended peacefully when a man surrendered to police after driving through a security checkpoint.

Rose Davis, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said the man got out of his truck and gave up at about 5:30 p.m. after a Las Vegas police SWAT team approached in an armored vehicle.

The area was closed and evacuated after the man drove his pickup through the security checkpoint on the Nevada side of Black Canyon without stopping just after 4 p.m.

Davis said Hoover Dam police activated pop-up metal barriers known as ram gates, installed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to keep the man from driving onto the dam. The man stopped once he reached the barriers, then turned his truck around and stopped in the road facing away from the dam, she said.

Lake Mead Park Ranger Randy LaVasseur said there were reports that the man was trying to get police to shoot him.

The roughly 100 to 200 tourists and employees at the dam were ushered to their vehicles and escorted out of the area through an emergency access gate on the Arizona side of the canyon.

Because of the critical nature of the dam, any breach of security must be initially treated as a potential terrorist attack, Davis said.

U.S. Highway 93 across the nearby Hoover Dam bypass bridge remained open to traffic during the standoff.

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.