AROUND THE VALLEY
Man who attacked Black family faces hate crimes
After Hunter Holman lost his job at a Las Vegas call center in May, he allegedly attacked a Black family with his car, used racial slurs, threatened to shoot other Black people and left a severed goat’s head behind in an extended stay hotel.
Holman, 27, of North Las Vegas, is facing two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon motivated by bias or hatred toward the victims in a July incident when he allegedly “randomly picked out a Black family, almost ran them over and indicated he wanted to kill them,” according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
“The Black male adult had to fight off Holman and stabbed Holman to protect his family,” police wrote in an arrest report.
On Feb. 22, Las Vegas police learned from the FBI in Arkansas that Holman was suspected of threatening to kill African Americans at a fitness center in Little Rock with an AR-15 rifle on Feb. 9.
After searching the department’s database, police found complaints from June 2022 of racial slurs, harassment and death threats allegedly made by Holman against employees at Extended Stay of America hotels at 1550 E. Flamingo Road and 3045 Maryland Parkway, leading to his arrest Thursday on suspicion of two gross misdemeanor counts of hate crimes.
According to detectives, Holman’s behavior started soon after his May 16 termination from his job at a call center at 1515 E. Tropicana Ave. He started sending text messages claiming to be Jesus and part of the FBI, and used racial slurs while making harassing phone calls to the call center, police said.
Holman is set to appear in Justice Court for a status check on March 30 for the hate crime charges. He is scheduled to appear in court again on May 24 for the charges related to the July incident.
Police identify pedestrian struck by four vehicles
The Nevada State Police, Highway Patrol has identified a pedestrian who died after being struck by multiple vehicles on Interstate 15, south of U.S. 93, earlier this month.
In a release sent Monday, the agency identified the deceased man as 64-year-old Sidney E. Adams of Las Vegas.
At about 4:43 p.m. on Feb. 15, Nevada State Police responded to reports of an automobile versus pedestrian crash on I-15 northbound near I-15, north of the Clark Countylincoln County line.
Investigators learned a tractor with a fuel tanker trailer had been traveling north on I-15 in the right lane, when Adams walked into the roadway, was struck and hurled into the left lane, where he was hit by more vehicles.
Adams was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was hurt.
Dismissal sought for Carter counterclaim in rape case
Attorneys for a woman who claimed to be raped by Nick Carter in 2001 filed a motion this week to have the singer’s counterclaim dismissed.
In a complaint filed in December, Shannon Ruth, now 39, accused Carter of raping her while on his tour bus following a Backstreet Boys performance in Tacoma, Washington. Ruth, who was 17 at the time, is autistic and has cerebral palsy.
Earlier this month, Carter’s attorneys filed a counterclaim alleging Ruth was part of a conspiracy to defame and extort the singer.
Ruth’s attorney filed a motion Wednesday to have Carter’s counterclaim dismissed in District Court.
“Carter’s counterclaim is clearly intended for no other purpose than to harass, intimidate and potentially silence plaintiff, whom he forced to engage in sex acts against her will,” Wednesday’s motion read. “He seeks to use his wealth and celebrity status to outlast plaintiff, intimidate her, and possibly even silence her.”
The counterclaim alleged that Ruth was recruited by the family of another woman who accused Carter of sexual assault. Ruth’s complaint cost the band at least $2.35 million between December and February due to the cancellation of promotional events.
Ruth’s attorneys claimed that Carter’s counterclaim was a “strategic lawsuit against public participation.” According to the motion Nevada’s ANTI-SLAPP statute requires “a party to demonstrate there is a probability of success on the merits before their claim can progress.”