Multi-County Pursuit Ends in Shots Fired

January 29, 2020

by Elizabeth Pitts-Hibbard

High-speed pursuit: Dashcam footage from the Stephens County Sheriff’s Department shows the suspect vehicle, center, reversing to avoid being boxed in by law enforcement vehicles and narrowly missing striking an officer.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is looking into an officer-involved shooting that occurred in Stephens County during the early-morning hours on Tuesday after a multi-county pursuit of a vehicle.

According to the OSBI, the incident began shortly before midnight when a Cotton County sheriff’s deputy noticed a car without license plates that was traveling at “a high rate of speed” on Highway 53 in Cotton County.

The Cotton County deputy made an attempt to stop the car and at one point the vehicle “appeared to pull over, but then returned to Highway 53 heading east,” the OSBI said in a statement.

An officer from the Walters Police Department attempted to assist the Cotton County deputy in stopping the vehicle, but it continued east into Stephens County. The OSBI said that the pursuit extended approximately 20 miles through Cotton and Stephens counties, from Walters to Comanche.

Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney said that Stephens County Deputies and the Comanche Police Department became involved once the vehicle crossed into Stephens County, and attempted to use “Stop Sticks,” a tire-deflation device, to disable the vehicle.

“The driver swerved to avoid them and almost hit a deputy’s car,” McKinney said, “Then it hit the bar ditch.”

According to the OSBI statement, the Cotton County deputies then tried to box the vehicle in in order to prevent it from getting back on the road. The driver then put the car in reverse and McKinney said that the driver appeared to be trying run over the deputies who were on foot.

That’s when shots were fired by deputies from Cotton and Stephens Counties and an officer from Walters Police Department.

Both the driver and the passenger were hit; the passenger was transported to Duncan Regional Hospital, treated, and released to custody of the Cotton County Sheriff’s Department. The driver was admitted to Duncan Regional Hospital for observation and is also in the Cotton County Sheriff’s custody.

“I’m sorry people got hurt like they did but glad our officers went home to their families,” McKinney said. “They did the right thing.”

The OSBI reported that the vehicle involved in the pursuit was reported stolen from New Mexico.

The Stephens County deputy who fired has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the ongoing OSBI investigation.