Ousted Nevada Assemblyman Arrested in California After Car Chase
A disgraced Nevada politician who just hours earlier had been expelled from the State Assembly in an unprecedented vote was arrested outside Barstow after a high-speed chase with police.
Steven Brooks was being held Friday on charges that included resisting arrest and throwing objects. His arrest came after state lawmakers in Carson City, Nev., voted to remove him from office, calling him “potentially dangerous.”
Officials say Brooks, 41, was arrested about 7 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 15 at Stoddard Wells Road. He was taken to the San Bernardino County Jail in Rancho Cucamonga, where he was being held on $100,000 bail. Authorities said it was unclear why Brooks was in California.
The arrest marked the continued downward spiral of a politician who had multiple run-ins with authorities in recent months. Brooks, a Democrat, represented a blue-collar district in North Las Vegas.
The personal descent began in January when Brooks was arrested on suspicion of threatening a fellow Democrat, Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick. Within days, he was briefly hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation after a quarrel at his grandmother’s house involving a sword. Not long afterward, the father of four was accused of grabbing for an officer’s gun while being arrested on suspicion of the domestic battery of his wife.
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