UPDATE 1 P.M. MARCH 13: An arrest report for a man accused of two carjackings and an attempted carjacking gives more details into the series of events.
Around 10 p.m. Saturday, Las Vegas police dispatch received a call about a crash between a cab and Nissan near Carson Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. Minutes later, a cab driver called dispatch to say he had been carjacked.
The cab driver told police that he picked up two men at the Palazzo hotel-casino with one of the men requesting a ride to the zipline on Fremont Street. But the driver told police that once he got to Carson Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, both men climbed from the rear driver's side window. One of the men opened the driver's door, pulled him out of the cab, got into the cab and drove into the Nissan in front of the cab three times until he was able to drive around the other car.
The driver of the Nissan told police that she was waiting at a red light when she was hit by the cab, originally thinking it was a crash due to the rain or a medical episode.
The stolen cab had a tracking device and the cab company told police that it was at Interstate 15 and Craig Road. Nevada Highway Patrol saw the stolen taxi on the shoulder of I-15 south of Craig Road.
Police said the carjacker was on the northbound off-ramp at Craig Road when he attempted to get into a red pickup truck. He eventually broke the window of the truck and entered the vehicle through the window. The pickup's driver got out of the vehicle and removed the keys from the ignition.
The carjacker then left the vehicle and ran across Craig Road to a semi-truck that was turning onto I-15. Police said the carjacker had got into a semi-truck before fleeing.
Nathaniel Goldsmith was later taken into custody at the Petro Gas Station at 6595 N. Hollywood Blvd., near Speedway Boulevard and I-15. He faces charges of robbery, grand larceny of a motor vehicle, battery with a deadly weapon and attempted robbery.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- A man was arrested Saturday night after police said he carjacked a taxicab in downtown Las Vegas.
Nevada Highway Patrol reported the man, later identified as Nathaniel Goldsmith, carjacked a taxi cab near Carson Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard and drove the taxi onto the Interstate 15, stopping near Craig Road.
North Las Vegas police say the man then ran out onto the highway, stopping traffic and jumping into the back of a nearby semi truck. The truck then drove to the speedway and the man jumped off.
North Las Vegas police arrived at the speedway and arrested the suspect and transferred him to Las Vegas police custody.
The taxicab carjacking was the third carjacking-related incident Saturday with a USPS vehicle carjacked and a UNLV student targeted in an attempted carjacking.
