Crimes worth the crash? 18 people killed in 5 years of OHP pursuits

All but one of the fatal pursuits started with stolen property or traffic violations, despite policy requiring troopers to weigh whether the benefits of apprehension are worth the risks of a chase.

At least eight of those killed weren’t the eluding drivers. Five were uninvolved motorists, at least two were passengers in fleeing vehicles, and one was a Highway Patrol lieutenant on foot struck by another trooper’s cruiser at high speed.

There could be up to two more passengers inside fleeing vehicles who were killed, but OHP won’t say whether the deceased juveniles in two separate chases were the eluder or an occupant.

A Tulsa World analysis remains ongoing while documentation has yet to be provided from OHP after four deadly chases since July 2020 that killed five people, including three uninvolved motorists. Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Scully repeatedly has turned down interview requests about his agency’s pursuit policies, practices and deadly chases.

OHP policy dictates that vehicular pursuits must “promote the safety of all persons” and be an “effective use” of resources but doesn’t meaningfully distinguish a difference from low-level crimes and traffic infractions to violent crimes.

In general terms, it requires chases to be “immediately terminated” if danger to the public, troopers or suspects is greater than the value of apprehension based on known offenses. The policy acknowledges that discontinuing a pursuit “may be the most rational means of preserving the lives and property of the public, the (trooper), and the suspect.”

Oklahoma’s ranking in law enforcement pursuit-related deaths per capita was 11th highest in the nation from 1996 to 2015, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report published in 2017. The state ranked No. 5 worst in the U.S. from 2016 to 2019, according to a Tulsa World analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Association data.

The 2017 federal report portrays how dangerous chases are: There was one pursuit-related fatality per day on average in that 20-year span — and one-third of the decedents weren’t involved in the pursuits.

Two national policing researchers and strategists say vehicular chases shouldn’t happen unless a violent crime is involved — and eluding itself doesn’t count.

Chuck Wexler is the leader of a D.C.-based independent think tank of law enforcement officials whose first guiding principle for officers is the sanctity of human life.

He said 20 years of research clearly shows that no weight should be given to stolen vehicles or traffic offenses as justification to initiate a pursuit.

“It just isn’t worth it,” Wexler said. “The most important thing I can say: You can get that guy another day. You can get that car back, but you can’t get a life back.”

Geoffrey Alpert, a longtime University of South Carolina professor who researches high-risk police activities, said a gut feeling that a violent crime is involved — such as the myth of a “body in the trunk” — isn’t enough to prompt a chase.

There must be at least probable cause or reasonable suspicion of a violent crime to justify starting a pursuit. Even then, he added, that isn’t license to “chase until the wheels fall off” no matter what.

“A fleeing suspect should always pull over when the police signal you to pull over, but we know it doesn’t happen all the time,” Alpert said. “The one making decisions is going to be the police officer.

“There has to be an adult in the room, and it isn’t the fleeing suspect.”

The 18 people who were killed are the result of 15 chases led by state troopers since May 2016.

All except one were prompted by stolen property — predominantly vehicles — or a traffic violation. The lone exception was a driver presumed to be intoxicated who fled a traffic stop for speeding after pulling over to interact with a trooper.

The agency lets troopers chase in any instance in which a driver flees, placing no unambiguous limits to avoid or discourage pursuing for minor crimes or traffic violations.

Its policy uses “traffic offense” and “stolen vehicle” as two of its three examples of reasons to engage in a vehicle pursuit.

No troopers have been disciplined in any of the fatal pursuits for which OHP has provided varying levels of documentation to the Tulsa World in response to open records requests during the tenures of three different Department of Public Safety commissioners.

‘You wind up with tragedies’

Alpert has been a leader with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, a worldwide organization for law enforcement that launches programs, conducts research and provides model policies and best practices.

He said the revised policy that the DPS commissioner publicly released 13 months ago hasn’t changed much from the version it replaced and is “very vague.”

In a written denial of interview requests, OHP spokeswoman Sarah Stewart stated “capturing a fleeing violator versus the public’s risk is a difficult balance to evaluate during a pursuit as the situation evolves quickly.”

The policy’s ambiguity is a detriment to troopers who must navigate pursuit decisions and dangers in the heat of the moment on their own, Alpert said, especially an issue because many officers take it personally when a person tries to evade them.

“If a department doesn’t have a strict policy like this, then you wind up with tragedies,” said Wexler, a former Boston Police officer.

A well-defined policy would include limitations specifically offering direction to troopers to remove some of the many variables, such as what to do if passengers are on board, Alpert said.

“We see periodically babies in the car; we see kids in car seats. Well you know they aren’t complicit in the crime,” he said. “They’re innocent people trapped in the vehicle. So are we going to put them at risk? And is that worth it?”

IACP’s model pursuit policy published in 2015 discourages chases for minor violations, authorizing them only when an officer holds reasonable belief the suspect is a danger to human life or threat to cause serious injury if allowed to flee.

The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office in its annual safety plans encourages law enforcement entities to adopt policies similar to those recommended by IACP to govern pursuits.

In a written response, OHP said it considered IACP recommendations and listed multiple instances in which it says it used the group’s suggestions in its policy — cited earlier in the article — but not wording to specifically discourage or prohibit pursuing for minor violations.

“(Troopers) shall carefully compare the seriousness of the violation to the hazards of a vehicular pursuit and shall carefully and continually consider the danger to themselves and the public in determining whether to continue involvement in a vehicular pursuit,” OHP policy states.

Termination methods can be deadly

Alpert’s familiarity with OHP policy comes from when he served as a defense expert witness in a felony murder case involving a Highway Patrol chase. It had begun after a traffic stop for following a vehicle too closely and then failure to have a driver’s license.

OHP Lt. Heath Meyer died of injuries he suffered 10 days after a pursuing trooper at high speeds collided with a colleague’s cruiser at a road block, then careened into Meyer’s body on an interstate in Moore in July 2017.

Meyer’s death is one of seven fatalities in six Highway Patrol chases since May 2016 that turned deadly when troopers intervened physically to end pursuits. Four of those seven killed were the eluding drivers.

The two methods used were tactical vehicle interventions, TVIs, which nudge or bump the rear corner of a vehicle to spin it out, as well as spike strips to puncture tires.

Troopers who used tactical vehicle interventions in four pursuits killed five people.

The agency’s pursuit policy describes TVIs as a “controlled maneuver intended to safely end a vehicular pursuit” when it is performed properly.

Scully’s updated policy added a provision that prohibits TVIs when a chase is in an area that might create “an immediate threat to other civilian traffic.” However, his revisions removed language that stated how chances of serious damage or injury from a TVI go up as speeds increase because the maneuver’s outcome is less predictable.

The Highway Patrol in a written response said the wording wasn’t removed for liability or culpability concerns but because it was a “declaratory statement that was unnecessary” to have in policy.

The most recent fatal TVI happened in April 2020 in Creek County.

A trooper chasing a driver for a speeding violation knew there was a passenger in the fleeing vehicle and still performed a TVI — killing both occupants in a fiery rollover crash and nearly wrecking himself too, according to OHP records.

A command staff review of the chase unanimously concluded no policies were violated but did note concerns about the location of the TVI, which spun out the fleeing car into a concrete bridge abutment before it burst into flames after rolling down into a creek.

The trooper in an internal interview had said he didn’t notice the bridge until the fleeing vehicle was spinning in front of his car after the TVI.

Command staff referred the matter to the training division for review. The training division dubbed it as within training, policy and law.

Two other fatal TVIs were performed in pursuits of stolen vehicles, killing the drivers.

A fourth TVI was done to a speeding driver swerving into the opposing lane of traffic on a highway at night who was believed to be intoxicated after initially stopping for a trooper.

The use of spike strips led to the deaths of two people in two chases — one of which led to the OHP lieutenant’s death in July 2017.

In another removal of cautionary language, the policy under Scully no longer states that spike strips must be used “in accordance with established manufacturer guidelines.”

Attorneys who defended the fleeing person in the pursuit that led to Meyer’s death cited the manufacturer’s guidelines to argue that the spike strips were incorrectly used by Meyer, ergo a policy violation.

OHP later told the World that particular wording wasn’t removed from policy for liability or culpability concerns.

“This statement was removed because this is more of a training subject,” OHP said in a written response. “Videos from manufacturer websites are shared with members during training. If the guidelines change, they are pushed out to members via our statewide online training platform.”

The most recent instance of a person dying when spike strips were used came in November 2019.

In wintry conditions, a man was fleeing state troopers in a stolen car that was tracked by GPS. Troopers pursued the driver on a wet interstate that could have had black ice in spots even though law enforcement was able to monitor the vehicle’s location via GPS.

A trooper tossed out a set of spike strips, and the driver died when his vehicle rolled after he swerved to avoid them.

Stewart, OHP’s spokeswoman, at the time told the Tulsa World that tire deflation devices generally aren’t considered a use of force because they are an inanimate object that troopers lay in front of a vehicle. However, the agency’s policy lists spike strips under its use-of-force section.

The Highway Patrol in a written response clarifying whether the agency considers tire deflation devices to be an application of force said they “are considered a low risk vehicle use of force.”

‘This isn’t the way’

Alpert said it isn’t fair for OHP to put troopers in the position to make lightning-quick, life-and-death decisions without clear policy guidance.

“The department may support them, but at some point juries are going to get to the point of realizing this isn’t the way police should respond, and this isn’t the way we want our police department to react,” he said.

The single outlier not prompted by stolen property or a traffic infraction in the 15 fatal pursuits was a speeding driver suspected of intoxication after initially stopping and interacting with a trooper.

The other 14? Six were for vehicles reported stolen. Three were for speeding violations. And there was one each of:

• theft of a liquor bottle

• expired license tag

• following too closely coupled with failure to have a driver’s license when the driver initially pulled over and interacted with the trooper

• an unspecified traffic infraction stop in which the trooper only then determined the vehicle was reported stolen

• an unspecified traffic violation that wasn’t specifically noted in OHP documents

Of the six pursuits for stolen vehicles, two included wrinkles at the outset other than just the reported thefts that could have played into the initial decisions to chase.

In one instance, local officers witnessed the auto theft and attempted to keep the suspect from leaving the scene. In the other, the suspect reportedly had been driving recklessly before OHP started pursuing, though video hasn’t been released yet.

Simply stated, you don’t chase for traffic infractions or stolen vehicles, according to Wexler, the executive director of Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C.

“It is a high-risk activity that without strict guidelines you’re going to have unnecessary tragedies,” Wexler said. “That is why forward-thinking police departments have drawn a line in the sand and they’ve said very clearly, ‘We don’t want you engaging in a pursuit unless you have reason to believe a violent crime has occurred.’”

2016 video from fatal OHP-chase crash

Related coverage

Oklahoma Highway Patrol puts formerly secret vehicular pursuit policy online, with some notable updates

Oklahoma wouldn't give up its trooper-pursuit policy, but 36 states did. How does OHP compare in transparency and accountability?

Deadly wrong-way pursuit led by troopers on Tulsa highway violates international model policy supported by Oklahoma Highway Safety Office

Seven Oklahoma Highway Patrol chases resulted in eight deaths. All were within policy that OHP keeps secret.

State troopers pursued a stolen truck into oncoming highway traffic. Young widowed mother questions why.

Tulsa-area state legislators and how to contact them