OFF THE WIRE
A Las Vegas police detective was arraigned Thursday in Yellowstone County District Court on felony charges stemming from a two-vehicle crash near Laurel.
Timothy Nicothodes, 46, appeared on a summons before Judge Gregory Todd and pleaded not guilty to two counts of felony criminal endangerment and a misdemeanor DUI charge. He was allowed to remain free without bond pending trial. A trial date will be set later.
Prosecutors allege that at the time of the crash, Nicothodes, an 11-year veteran of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, had a blood alcohol level of between 0.192 and 0.219 percent, more than twice the state legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Nicothodes was severely injured in the crash, and two people in the other vehicle were also hurt.
According to charging documents, the crash happened at about 10:30 p.m. May 27 when a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck driven by Nicothodes hit the rear end of a 2009 Ford Focus on Old Highway 10 near the Seitz Ronan Road intersection.
The crash was investigated by the Montana Highway Patrol, which determined that the pickup was going nearly 100 mph when it struck the car from behind. The speed limit on the two-lane highway is 50 mph.
Both vehicles went off the road and rolled several times.
Nicothodes was not wearing a seat belt, the patrol said, and he was partially ejected and pinned under the truck. Rescue crews took 30 minutes to free him before he was taken to Billings Clinic.
The driver of the car, 19-year-old Baylee Brooks of Billings, and passenger Keenan Weatherford, 20, of Laurel, were both wearing seat belts. They were treated at St. Vincent Healthcare for numerous cuts and bruises.
The patrol said there were no brake marks on the road to indicate that the driver of the truck tried to avoid the collision. Weather, road conditions and other possible factors, such as animals, pedestrians or other vehicles, also were ruled out as a possible cause, court records state.
The pickup was equipped with a device known as a diagnostic module, which recorded the truck’s speed, braking and other operations at the time of the crash. The device indicated that the truck was going 98 mph at the time of the crash. The truck was also equipped with a speed governor that restricted its top engine speed to 98 mph, court records state.
During the crash investigation, a trooper interviewed Brooks’ parents, who said they were friends with Nicothodes and had spent the evening before the crash with him at two Laurel bars. They said Nicothodes drank “significant amounts of alcohol through the evening and while they all had dinner,” court records state.
During the evening, Nicothodes asked them to accompany him to Shotgun Willie’s, a Laurel strip club, but the couple declined. When they left Nicothodes, the couple said, they saw him urinate in a parking lot. Nicothodes declined the couple’s offer for a ride home or a place to stay that night, court records state.
Officer Jay Rivera, a public information officer with the Las Vegas police, said Nicothodes has been employed as an officer in that department since March 2000. He is assigned as a detective in the internal affairs division as a background investigator.
Rivera said Nicothodes remains on active duty, but will likely be placed on unpaid leave after meeting with a supervisor when he returns to Las Vegas. Police officers in Las Vegas who are accused of felonies are placed on unpaid leave while their cases are pending, Rivera said.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nicothodes is married to Las Vegas Deputy Police Chief Kathy O’Connor, a 25-year-member of the department who currently works as the chief of staff for Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie.
The city police and county sheriff’s department in Las Vegas and Clark County are consolidated and managed by the sheriff.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_dd6d5680-b233-5d32-b2cc-425013382e75.html
