Harris leads police on high-speed chase through four towns
Jeffrey Harris, a man from Sapulpa, led police on a high speed chase through Spiro, Pocola, Panama, and Shady Point on Friday morning. Harris was finally stopped and arrested in Shady Point, where a state trooper deployed a strip of spikes, flattening the front two tires and bringing the vehicle to a halt.
According to Chief Eddie Seaton from the Panama Police Department, the chase began in Spiro. Seaton had been getting gas at the Casey’s in Spiro when he noticed a vehicle that matched a Be-On-theLook-Out alert for earlier that morning.
Seaton called Spiro Police Chief Larry Crossland, who was parked just across the road, and informed him of the vehicle. According to both chiefs, they attempted to corner the vehicle with their police cruisers, but the vehicle swerved away and left the parking lot at a high rate of speed, hitting Crossland’s cruiser as it went. Seaton and Crossland pursued.
Seaton said, “The vehicle was occupied with a male in the driver seat and a female in the front passenger seat. The vehicle took off and swerved to the right of
Chief Crossland’s patrol unit, striking my unit on the passenger side.”
The female in the vehicle was later identified to be Shelby Kingslow of Sapulpa.
The vehicle then headed into Pocola on state Highway 9/271, then turned right onto Choctaw Road and headed back West. The vehicle avoided a road block on Choctaw Road by going into a ditch to get around it, then traveled towards Spiro. Both officers reported the vehicle was traveling in excess of 125 miles per hour.
During the chase, Harris nearly hit several other vehicles and was swerving on the roadway. He traveled back through Spiro going east, driving through the median into oncoming traffic in order to avoid a spike strip that were deployed.
Harris then took the vehicle down Highway 59 through Panama and Shady Point. Once the vehicle was finally stopped, Crossland took over the investigation and Harris was arrested.
The vehicle Harris was driving had been reported stolen out of Webber Falls. The case was turned over to the Choctaw Tribal Prosecutor due to Harris being Creek Nation and the theft happening on tribal land.
According to the affidavit filed in LeFlore County, Harris committed several offenses, including possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated assault and battery of a police officer, attempting to elude or eluding a police officer, reckless driving, and driving under a suspended or revoked license.
The woman, Kingslow, was released. According to Crossland, she stated that she did not know the vehicle was stolen, and said she tried to get Harris to stop during the chase.