Man freed after ramming truck into Las Vegas casino commits suicide

(Reuters) - A man, who was ordered released from jail after ramming his truck through the glass doors of a Las Vegas casino last week, has hanged himself in a nearby hotel, Nevada officials said on Friday. Ryan Brown, 40, was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and possession and use of cocaine after driving a pickup through the glass front doors of the Stratosphere Casino on Sept. 10, a Las Vegas police arrest report showed. On Monday, a judge ordered the Indiana man released without restrictions after prosecutors failed to file criminal charges, according to the Clark County District Attorney's Office, which said it needed toxicology reports to pursue charges. The judge set a status hearing in October which Brown was due to attend. Brown was found dead of an apparent suicide in a hotel room on Thursday, police spokesman Larry Hadfield said. The Clark County coroner's office said Brown died of asphyxia and hanging at the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. Brown told police he worked as an electrician for the weeklong Burning Man arts and culture festival in Nevada that ended on Sept. 1 but was fired due to a domestic dispute with his wife, the arrest report said. "He intended to run up to the top of the Stratosphere and jump off," the report said, adding that Brown told police in a drug-fueled diatribe that he had been on cocaine and speed for six days and had smoked crack about two hours before deliberately crashing into the casino. Darren Richards, assistant Clark County public defender, whose office was not involved in the case, said Brown's release raised questions about why such a "distressed" man would not be charged or at least held for mental health evaluation. Under Nevada law, police and other law-enforcement officials can order a person detained for mental evaluation if he is perceived to be a danger to himself or others, Richards said. "I don't know what the District Attorney was thinking, why they didn't file some charges against someone who had been caught driving through the lobby of a casino," Richards said. The Clark County District Attorney's Office, which provided the arrest report, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Brown's release. "It is not against the law to be mentally ill," Hadfield said when asked why Brown was not arrested after his release. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Mohammad Zargham)