Cross-border police chase ends with south valley crash, traffic citations

A police chase spanning two states landed a 50-year-old man under arrest early Wednesday morning.

Nevada state troopers said the man refused to pull over when the California Highway Patrol tried to stop him for a traffic violation. But the man didn’t pull over, and a chase ensued.

Police say the man began driving erratically, traveling north on I-15 toward Nevada. The man called a CHP dispatcher and said he was armed and suicidal, Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Loy Hixson said. No firearm was located.

When the man crossed the Nevada border around 3:10 a.m., NHP tried to stop the vehicle with spike strips, Hixson said, but it didn’t work. The man drove around them on the shoulder.

The man eventually exited I-15 when he neared Las Vegas and crashed his vehicle near the intersection of Gilespie Street and Starr Avenue, not far from Liberty High School. He then fled on foot.

Police were able to catch the man after setting up a perimeter, and NHP arrested him for several traffic violations.

This was the second time in less than a week someone running from California authorities crossed into Nevada. But the prior chase, which lasted for nearly 200 miles, turned deadly.

A Califronia Highway Patrol trooper fatally shot Phia Vang, 25, Thursday after police said he tried to run the trooper over after being boxed in off I-15 near Jean, about 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Vang began running from CHP about 4 p.m. in Mojave, Calif., about 70 miles west of Barstow.

Vang, of Fresno, Calif., died from a gunshot wound to the head. The trooper who shot him has not been identified.

Contact reporter Kimberly De La Cruz at 702-383-0381, kdelacruz@reviewjournal.com or on Twitter @KimberlyinLV.