LV police report details officer-involved shooting

A suspect who drew fire from Las Vegas police after she accelerated her car at them was trying to avoid arrest for violating probation, an arrest report said Wednesday.

Janine Renee McCullough, also known as Janine Sawyer, was arrested Monday and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of resisting an officer, the report said.

She told police she did not mean to hurt the officers and had fled from police several times because "she was on probation and didn't have her driver's license with her," the report said.

McCullough, 42, pleaded guilty in 2008 to larceny, a gross misdemeanor, according to court records. She was sentenced to three years probation.

Neither McCullough nor the officers were hurt in the incident about 7:30 a.m. near Philadelphia and Fairfield avenues, west of the Stratosphere, police said.

Police first saw the car, a 1995 Toyota, about 2 a.m., when bicycle officers reported that a possibly stolen vehicle with expired tags had fled from police. The vehicle was spotted several times in the morning, each time driving away from officers, the report said. Because the vehicle had not been verified as stolen, officers did not pursue the suspect at high speeds, the report said.

Police found the vehicle on a dead-end street near the Stratosphere about five hours after the first call. Two officers walked to the car and told the female driver to get out, the report said.

The woman, later identified as McCullough, tried to drive away by accelerating in reverse to the end of the street, the report said. With no exit available, she began speeding toward the officers, who drew their guns.

The officers, identified as Michael Donovan and David Milewski, fired four rounds, three of which struck the car, police said. The officers have been placed on administrative leave.

McCullough crashed the car into a fence and ran away. A third officer made the arrest, police said. According to the arrest report, the car is owned by Carolee McCullough, 59, of Las Vegas.

Janine McCullough is jailed without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@review
journal.com or 702-383-0283.