A former Nevada state lawmaker who had been expelled from the Assembly hours earlier led authorities in California on a high-speed freeway chase before he was shocked with a stun gun and arrested on charges including resisting arrest, authorities said Friday.
Steven Brooks, 41, was arrested at about 7 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 15 outside the city of Victorville after a 15-mile chase that exceeded speeds of 80 mph, California Highway Patrol Officer Don Spiker said.
It was Brooks’ third arrest since January, and the second involving allegations that he fought with police. He was expelled from the Legislature on Thursday, after lawmakers cited concerns about their own safety around him.
Authorities say Brooks got in an argument with a tow truck operator, fled in an SUV, tangled with uniformed officers on the side of the road and attacked a police dog with a wrench. Officers approached his vehicle with guns drawn, and Brooks appeared to be punched by one of the officers before he was shackled by the wrists and ankles on an ambulance gurney.
Barstow police said Brooks and the tow operator argued about Brooks’ unwillingness to pay for fixing a flat tire on the freeway in Barstow.
“We just know the tow truck driver was uncomfortable enough to call us for assistance,” Spiker said. “He said the subject was acting strange.”
The tow operator didn’t immediately respond Friday to messages.
Brooks’ arrest came the same day he became the first lawmaker in Nevada history to be expelled from the Legislature.
It disappointed his lawyer, who has been representing Brooks through a series of sometimes bizarre legal and psychological incidents, and who had been fighting to keep the two-term Democratic state lawmaker in his elected seat representing a North Las Vegas district.
“We had started to discuss possible next steps,” attorney Mitchell Posin said, referring to a conversation he said he had with Brooks after Brooks’ expulsion from the Assembly.
“Next thing I know, I heard about this,” Posin said.
Posin said he had no details about the arrest, or about why Brooks was on the interstate in Barstow.
Brooks was arrested near the Stoddard Wells Road exit after leading officers on the chase with a flat tire, authorities said. The location is about 180 miles southwest of Las Vegas.
Barstow Police Chief Albert Ramirez released a statement alleging that when the police dog was sent into Brooks’ SUV, Brooks choked and hit the dog with a socket wrench. The dog, named Buck, was treated by a veterinarian for cuts on the head and leg.
“Brooks continued to resist the officers and not comply with their orders,” the Barstow police statement said. “A Taser was utilized on Brooks and after this, handcuffs were applied.”
The police report does not describe any police officers being injured and doesn’t address whether any officers punched Brooks.
Telephone messages for Ramirez and other Barstow police supervisors weren’t immediately returned.
Brooks was examined at Barstow Community Hospital before he was taken to a San Bernardino County jail in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., police said
Jail records show Brooks was being held on $100,000 bail pending a Tuesday court appearance on four felony charges including resisting a police officer with force, willful harm to a police service dog, felony evading arrest and throwing objects from a vehicle.
Brooks’ expulsion from the state Assembly came by voice vote following a recommendation from a bipartisan panel that met largely behind closed doors. The seven panel members considered a more than 900-page investigative report produced by a Las Vegas lawyer hired as a special counsel before voting 6-1 for expulsion.
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