Fugitive in Utah cop injury case held in Las Vegas

KEN RITTER, Associated Press

Updated 6:58 p.m., Friday, August 31, 2012



  • In this Clark County Detention Center booking photo of Joaquin Lopez-Carballo taken Aug. 30, 2012, provided by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Authorities say the fugitive accused of running over a Utah police officer with a vehicle in 1999 has been arrested after he was found working at a Las Vegas Strip casino. Records show that the 36-year-old man known to police in Orem, Utah, as Reinhold Neumann is being held Friday at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas under the name Joaquin Lopez-Caraballo. Photo: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department / AP




LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man accused of running over a Utah police officer with a stolen vehicle in 1999 and skipping bail following his arrest in California in 2003 was jailed Friday in Nevada after he was found working at a Las Vegas Strip casino, police said.
The man known to police in Orem, Utah, as Reinhold Neumann was arrested late Thursday at the Imperial Palace hotel-casino and held at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas under the name Joaquin Lopez-Caraballo.
Deborah Munch, a spokeswoman for Imperial Palace owner Caesars Entertainment Corp., said Lopez-Caraballo worked at a restaurant in the casino and not for the casino itself.
He was due for an extradition hearing Tuesday in Clark County District Court.
Orem police Sgt. Craig Martinez said the 36-year-old has a history of slipping through the grasp of authorities. He was wanted on a parole violation in California and on four other warrants in Utah, including one charging him with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer.
As Reinhold Neumann, he was accused of running over Orem Police Officer Garrett Smit with an SUV in November 1999 after Smit and Officer John McCombs found him asleep in the driver's seat of the idling vehicle.
McCombs was bitten, punched and bloodied when he reached inside to fetch the keys, Martinez said. DNA from the bite later matched Neumann.
Smit shot several times at the accelerating vehicle before he was struck and left with serious leg, rib, back and lung injuries. Smit left Orem and retired several years ago after working as a police officer in Oakland, Calif., Martinez said.
The burned and abandoned SUV was eventually found in Juab County, Utah.
Neumann was arrested in Pasadena, Calif., in 2003 and sent back to Utah to face charges in the case. He was freed on $50,000 bond and disappeared again, Martinez said.
As Lopez-Caraballo, he was identified as a wanted man after he was arrested Aug. 11 in Las Vegas on charges including drunken driving and resisting arrest, Las Vegas Police Officer Laura Meltzer said Friday.
He was released from the Las Vegas city jail following that arrest, but authorities later discovered a fingerprint match to Neumann, so members of a local and federal criminal apprehension team tracked him down again and arrested him Thursday.


Read more: Fugitive in Utah cop injury case held in Las Vegas - SFGate