Official Questions Las Vegas Strip Water Feature?Arrest

Posted on: June 10, 2021, 12:32h. 

Last updated on: June 10, 2021, 12:53h.

Larry Henry Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

A Clark County commissioner recently used Twitter to question why police arrested a man who jumped into a water feature on the Las Vegas Strip.

County Commissioner Tick Segerblom on June 5 posted a tweet, asking, “Wouldn’t a citation suffice?”

This was in response to a tweet from Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Dori Koren. It showed a shirtless man being arrested after climbing out of a water feature at a Strip hotel-casino.?

Koren tweeted a video of a man relaxing in the water before climbing out. The video was embedded in a TikTok post, accompanied by music. The hotel-casino was not named in the tweet.

We know it’s hot outside, but jumping into any of the water features on the Vegas Strip is dangerous & illegal,” Koren wrote in the original tweet.

Later, Koren responded to Segerblom in a tweet explaining police policy.

“Hi Commissioner,” Koren tweeted on June 5. “We try to warn or cite in most cases, but it depends on the specific circumstances, history of the suspect, and their receptiveness. Also, we had someone drown and die doing this last year, so we’re doing our best to limit repeat offenders/issues.”

The drowning incident occurred in July 2020, when a man identified as a transient jumped into the water feature at the Bellagio Las Vegas and swam to the middle. The water in that section is 13 feet deep, police said. The Bellagio was built where the Dunes hotel-casino once stood on the west side of the Strip.

The large resorts on the Strip are outside Las Vegas city limits, and are under county jurisdiction. The combined city-county police department, known locally as Metro, responds to calls on the Strip.

Segerboom replied in a tweet that he appreciated the captain’s response.

“Maintaining control on the Strip is critical as we reopen our tourism economy,” Segerblom tweeted.

Twitter Users Sound Off

The Twitter exchange between Segerblom and Koren prompted numerous comments on the social media site. Some people mentioned temperatures that recently climbed above 100 degrees in the Las Vegas Valley for the first time since Oct. 1, 2020.

A Twitter user identified as “iced coffee summer” wrote, “Thank you for protecting the casinos from people who are suffering from heat exhaustion, such a valuable service for the community, really.”

In reference to the police department, “Homeless in Vegas” tweeted, “Without you, someone would have cooled off in the hot sun. Thank god we have cops to ‘maintain control.’”?

In a tweet apparently directed at the commissioner, “Jeff Thigpen” wrote, “To question the good men and women of LVMPD on a public forum is inappropriate.”

A user who goes by “Practical Sarcasm” wrote that police have a tough job and did the right thing. “Break the law and pay the consequences,” the user wrote. “Simple as that.”

AK-47, Other Firearms Confiscated

Koren also has been active on Twitter, highlighting the large number of firearms and narcotics that police have confiscated in recent weeks on the Strip and nearby tourist areas. Police recently confiscated a gold-plated AK-47.

Koren calls this crime suppression effort “Persistent Pressure II.” After? multiple shootings and fights on the Strip last year, police implemented a temporary anti-crime effort the department called “Operation Persistent Pressure.”