Man suspected of trying to run people over says actions were justified
A man arrested on suspicion of trying to run people over outside a west valley middle school Friday told police his actions were justified because rocks were being thrown at his car, arrest records show.
According to the report, when an arresting officer from the Metropolitan Police Department asked Clay Green whether he thought it was acceptable to try to run people over for throwing rocks at the orange Ford Mustang, Green responded: “Hell yeah, that’s a show car!”
Police responded about 3:35 p.m. Friday to reports of the incident outside Johnson Junior High School, 7701 Ducharme Ave. Police said students at the school, near Buffalo and Alta drives, were on and near the campus when the incident occurred.
Video shows the orange sports car driving in circles, jumping curbs onto school property and crashing into a car and van. The Mustang eventually got stuck on bushes and rocks.
Several people were holding Green down before an officer arrived and took him into custody, according to the report.
Police have said the incident started with an argument between Green and a friend who was at the school to pick up her younger sister.
The woman Green was chasing told police the incident started with an argument between Green and his brother at a house, according to the report. She said she knew Green only through his brother.
She told police Green left the house after the argument and returned shortly after speeding toward the home. He abruptly stopped before hitting four people in the driveway, including the woman he ultimately chased, she told police.
The woman said she yelled at Green for nearly hitting the driveway group because she was pregnant, according to the report. He started chasing her, she said, driving through fencing at a house and nearby park.
Green told police the incident started when two people approached him at a house, according to the report. One had a gun and told him to leave the property, he told police.
According to the report, Green drove off to find them after they left and that’s when two unknown men threw rocks at his car, breaking his windshield.
In a jailhouse interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday night, Green said his brother took his car without mentioning it, then took his cigarettes and the last $5 in his wallet. He said the woman he chased and another man witnessed the fight with his brother and were throwing rocks at his car.
Green said he did not know the woman was pregnant and denied ever speeding toward a group of people in a driveway.
He is being held without bail in county jail and faces two counts of attempted murder and one count of battery with a deadly weapon.
Green said Monday he never intended to run the two over. According to the arrest report, he told police he was trying to run people over for throwing rocks. The only thing he said he regrets is wrecking his Mustang.
“I don’t see much wrong in what I did,” he said.
Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.
