NEVADA VIEWS: Police failure to take roadway incidents seriously can have deadly consequences

On Aug. 8 at 6:34 a.m., I was assaulted twice while on my rollerblades by a racing white sedan with a laughing driver and his laughing passengers. I have the incident on tape.

This occurred six days before and 200 yards from where Andreas Probst, a retired police chief in California, was killed in northwest Las Vegas while riding his bicycle.

One of the two teenagers arrested for the killing later boasted that he would be “out in 30 days. I’ll bet you.”

Thirty minutes before Mr. Probst was killed with a stolen vehicle, police allege that the teens intentionally hit another bicyclist, a 72-year-old man, and then hit a white Toyota Corolla. Police say they then crashed the stolen car and tried to run away before one was apprehended.

Based on the reckless driving of the driver who assaulted me, I wonder if that car was also stolen. But the Metropolitan Police Department doesn’t seem to take these types of incidents seriously.

I tried reporting my assaults to Metro using its online incident reporting form, but it wouldn’t let me complete the form because — incredibly — I had the license plate number. Because of that, it directed me to call the nonemergency line, where I was on an indefinite hold before being forced to hang up.

I then emailed the Northwest Area Command’s posted email address and have never received a response.

I then contacted my Las Vegas city councilwoman, Nancy Brune, who shared that it’s normal for nonemergency calls to take more than an hour to answer. She suggested I fill out the area command’s online incident reporting form.

Upon completing the form, I received the automated message: “We appreciate that you have taken the time to contact us. Your message has been successfully sent.” I have never received a response to my incident report.

Ms. Brune’s Aug. 17 community email announced Mr. Probst’s tragic hit-and-run death and that August was traffic safety month. I let her know that I had no response from Metro. She informed Metro that I submitted an incident report and requested my phone number so they could call me.

On Aug. 20 an officer called and left a voice message in which she couldn’t repeat her call-back number because she was laughing too hard. She eventually suggested that I come to the station to fill out another incident report. I explained that I already completed an online incident report and sent a detailed email with a link to my video of the incident. She acted as if I were wasting her time and said Metro cannot open a Dropbox link. I asked if she had another way for me to share my video. She said she would send me an AXON link.

She never sent the link, and there has not been any other response from Metro.

The driver who police believe killed Mr. Probst was a serial repeat offender within one hour. How many other vulnerable road users has he endangered? The driver who assaulted me was a serial offender within one minute. Was he driving a stolen vehicle? How many other vulnerable road users has he endangered? Are the incidents related? We can never know if law enforcement refuses to investigate.

The behavior of dangerous drivers can be changed if law enforcement takes cyclists’ criminal near-miss reports seriously and enforces existing laws for cycling safety. Without enforcement, to paraphrase a California Highway Patrol commander, riding on the roads is like riding in a shooting range.

Craig Davis is founder of www.cyclistvideoevidence.com, which advocates that cyclists ride with a camera and report all near miss incidents to law enforcement and to its incident management system.