Motorcyclist fleeing police dies in Oklahoma City crash
Staff Writer jwallace@oklahoman.com
A man fleeing from police on a motorcycle that had been reported stolen died Thursday after a pursuit and crash in Oklahoma City.
About 6:45 p.m. Thursday at SW 40 and S May Avenue, a police officer tried to stop the driver of a motorcycle that matched the description of one reported stolen from Bethany, police said.The motorcyclist, whose name has not been released, led officers on a pursuit north on May Avenue beforerunning a red light and hitting an vehicle at the NW 23 intersection.
Master Sgt. Gary Knight said pursuing officers twice lost sight of the man during the pursuit, first by the initiating officer and then by a K-9 unit. Officers continued in the last known direction of the suspect, and eventually came upon the wreck. Knight said the man drove faster than 60 mph along May Avenue during the pursuit. The speed limitthere is 40 mph.
The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. The other driver was taken to a hospital and treated for non-lifethreatening injuries, police report.
According to the Oklahoma City Police Department’s Policy and Procedure Manual, a number of conditions are in play when authorizing a police pursuit.
Factors include probable cause that a crime has been committed and that the pursuing officer and supervisor have weighed the level of the offense against the danger posed to themselves and the public.
The officer initiating the pursuit is required to consider the risk in relation to the speed of the suspect and other traffic, road conditions, population density and other factors. A pursuit is not authorized when the degree of risk to the public or the officers “exceeds the value of an immediate apprehension.”
The department’s pursuit policy has undergone a number of revisions, including a 2006 revision that adopted new rules that required officers and supervisors to make more carefully weighed risks.
Many of the changes to the policy stem from the October 2005 death of Sgt. Jonathan Dragus, who was killed after he wrecked his police cruiser while chasing a stolen motorcycle near Northwest Expressway and Pennsylvania Avenue.
In 2015, 212 pursuits were initiated by Oklahoma City police, which led to 67 non-injury crashes, 20 injury crashes and two fatal crashes. In 2016, police engaged in 282 pursuits, resulting in 101 non-injury crashes, 22 injury crashes and one fatal crash.
The three fatalities during the two years were suspects being pursued.
Pursuits have been the subject of debate for many police departments across the country, with a small selection of agencies prohibiting the police action, according to a U.S. Department of Justice study published last year.
A majority of law enforcement agencies have written pursuit policies based on restrictive criteria, like Oklahoma City's policy, for when a pursuit can be initiated and whether it can continue, according to the study.
The majority of pursuits, 57 percent, lasted 3 minutes or less and covered a distance of 3 miles or less, according to data gathered for the study from 2009 to 2013. Nearly half of those chases reached speeds greater than 70 mph and nearly 25 percent reached speeds more than 90 mph.
About 70 percent of the pursuits began with a traffic violation.
CONTRIBUTING: ROBERT MEDLEY, STAFF WRITER