North Las Vegas police arrested a driver on suspicion of DUI early Monday after officers found the person unresponsive behind the wheel near Cheyenne Avenue and Interstate 15, and the vehicle then rolled forward and struck an empty patrol car. Officers had already stepped outside their own vehicle when it was hit, and no one was injured in the collision.
According to FOX5 Vegas, North Las Vegas police officers responded at approximately 4 a.m. to a driver who appeared unresponsive behind the wheel near the Cheyenne Avenue and I-15 interchange. While officers attempted to make contact, the vehicle moved forward and struck the unoccupied NLVPD patrol vehicle. The station reports that the officers had exited their car and were not inside it when it was struck, and police confirmed no officers suffered injuries in the incident.
The driver was taken into custody on suspicion of DUI and transported to a local hospital for medical clearance before being booked into the North Las Vegas Community Correctional Center, a municipal facility at 2332 Las Vegas Boulevard North that handles pretrial detainees and after-hours bail processing for North Las Vegas Municipal and Justice courts, according to the City of North Las Vegas. Police said no additional information was available at the time, and the driver’s identity, along with toxicology or blood-alcohol results from the medical clearance, remains unknown.
How an Unmoving Car Can Still Trigger a DUI Arrest
The circumstances raise an unusual legal question: how do you charge someone with driving under the influence if their car was stationary when officers arrived? Under Nevada Revised Statute 484C.110, a person can be arrested for DUI not just while actively driving but also when found in “actual physical control” of a vehicle while impaired, a standard that applies when an unresponsive driver is discovered behind the wheel and the vehicle subsequently rolls forward, according to Justia Law. Because the vehicle in this case reportedly rolled forward while officers tried to reach the driver, prosecutors have a statutory basis to pursue actual physical control even though the car wasn’t necessarily moving on its own power at the moment officers first found it…