Off-duty Las Vegas cop said ‘road rage’ led to I-15 shooting
An off-duty officer who police allege was shot at by a motorist Tuesday on Interstate 15 believed the violence was motivated by road rage, according to a police report.
The confrontation resulted in the arrest of Dwight Delancy, 21, on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a gun into an occupied structure or vehicle, and discharging a gun within a structure or vehicle within a prohibited area.
Las Vegas police said that at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday an off-duty officer was driving on Blue Diamond Road near I-15 when a driver tried to cut the officer off. The other driver then pulled up next to the officer’s driver-side window and shot at him several times before speeding off and rear-ending another car, Lt. Jose Hernandez said on Tuesday.
In Delancy’s arrest report, the officer was only identified as “Officer J. Roman, P#6599.” Metropolitan Police Department employment records associate that patrol number with Jose Roman, who joined the department in January 2000.
A Metro spokesman said the department would not comment on the case.
Roman told police he was in his private vehicle turning onto Blue Diamond Road from Las Vegas Boulevard when a vehicle on his left pulled alongside. Roman said the other driver, later identified as Delancy, was “waving his arms in an animated fashion and appeared to be screaming something,” the report said.
“Officer Roman believed it was a road rage incident and the driver was angry with him, and he responded with the same, gesturing with his hands in a ‘f—— you’ fashion,” the report said.
Roman told police Delancy then pointed the gun “directly at him” and fired up to five times, the report said. Police on Tuesday night only found one expended cartridge case. No bullet holes were found on Roman’s car.
Delancy gave police a very different account, saying the off-duty officer “tried to run him off the road” during the turn and then made “threatening hand gestures” at him.
Delancy told police he thought Roman was “trying to start a fight,” so he fired his gun into the air “as a way of warning Roman,” the report said.
After Delancy fired, he drove off through “heavy traffic” and crashed into another car, Hernandez said Tuesday. According to the report, Roman got his gun from his truck, caught up to Delancy at the crash and held him at gunpoint until a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper arrived.
One of the Metro officers called to the scene said that after the crash, Delancy said he “thought Roman was a gangster so he pulled out his firearm and shot at him,” the report said.
Officers who arrived at the scene handcuffed Delancy and Roman, until one of the officers found Roman’s identification card and told a trooper to take the handcuffs off him, the report said.
Delancy and the driver of the vehicle that was rear-ended were taken to University Medical Center with minor injuries.
Delancy was not present at a brief bail hearing Friday, ostensibly because he was still in the hospital.
But a spokeswoman for UMC said Friday that Delancy was not listed as a patient at the hospital, and Clark County Detention Center records indicated he is housed at the jail.
Delancy was not granted bail at the hearing.
Court records show Delancy also was detained because he is a “fugitive from justice.” According to his arrest report, he had a warrant out of Broward County, Florida.
A spokesman for the Broward County Sheriff’s Department said Delancy was wanted in Florida on charges of possessing cannabis, driving on a suspended license and failure to return a rented/leased vehicle. Florida has indicated it does not plan to seek extradition of Delancy to face those charges.
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.