LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police officers in a Las Vegas suburb conspired to cover up a car crash involving an off-duty coworker, according to records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Henderson Police Chief Hollie Chadwick also ignored recommendations to fire the officers and eventually reinstated them, the newspaper reported. It took about six months for the city to release recordings of 911 calls, police body camera footage and other records related to the April 2021 crash.
Witnesses had indicated the evening of the crash that the off-duty officer appeared to be intoxicated. No one was hurt in the crash and charges were never filed.
The previous police administration, under Chief Thedrick Andres, had recommended that Sgt. John Bellow and Officers Marissa Myers and Katherine Cochran — who was suspected of driving intoxicated — be fired for lying and falsifying a police report, according to records that were part of a months-long internal investigation.
Instead, Chadwick reversed the termination recommendations and issued minor discipline in the case, the newspaper reported.
Chadwick and other city officials declined to be interviewed about the DUI investigation, the newspaper said. In a statement, Chadwick said she was addressing incomplete cases from the prior administration and that several internal investigations contained discrepancies that deviated from best practices. She did not provide specifics.
Records show Bellow, Myers and Cochran were on administrative leave for about a year and a half, costing taxpayers about $385,000.
Bellow and Cochran did not return requests for comment, and Myers hung up when the Review-Journal called her.
Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers Executive Director Andrew Regenbaum said there was no proof of a cover-up and called the investigation a “sham” orchestrated by the previous police administration. He provided no evidence to support his claim.
“It was not an easy scene to handle, but they did do their jobs,” he said. “Chadwick was only fixing what was done wrong. It’s not about someone who just doesn’t discipline people.”
Retired Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Stephen Downing, who reviewed the case at the Review-Journal’s request, said repeated problems within the Henderson agency raise concerns about its overall culture and discipline.
Officers responded to the crash on April 18, 2021 after an Audi sedan ran through a stop sign, drove onto the sidewalk and struck a street sign before stopping on a bed of rocks. Officers found Cochran standing alone next to her vehicle.
Multiple witnesses told police she appeared to be drunk or intoxicated. One 911 caller reported that she saw the Audi swerving.
According to internal affairs records, Cochran initially told officers that her girlfriend had been behind the wheel but then claimed another friend was the one driving.
Witnesses told officers that Cochran was the only person they saw near the wrecked car, and none reported seeing anyone leave the scene.
The internal affairs report stated that officers should have focused on Cochran as a suspect in a DUI investigation. Instead, an officer who offered to conduct sobriety tests was told to leave the scene.
Cochran’s friendship with Myers also was scrutinized in the report. The two went through the police academy together.
At the scene, Cochran made a hand gesture that prompted Myers to mute her body camera, records show. Myers told Cochran that they “need to make it look less suspicious,” according to the report.
The report also states that Myers admitted to creating a “false alibi” that Cochran was sleeping in the Audi’s backseat at the time of the crash while a friend was driving. Myers also muted her body camera while talking to that friend at the scene, which raised suspicions among internal affairs that she was hiding something.
Cochran denied driving or asking her friend and co-workers to cover for her. She told investigators that she had been drinking that day and had no memory of what happened before the crash.
Chadwick put her on probation for a year. Myers received the same probation and was found to have violated policies regarding body camera footage and attention to duty.
Chadwick determined that Bellow did not follow body camera policies. She recommended that Bellow be demoted, and Assistant City Manager Jim McIntosh upheld her decision. Bellow has denied the allegations and is challenging his demotion through an arbitration process set for later this year.
