Crews fixing the fence where earlier today OHP says a man driving a stolen truck crashed through TIA fences during a chase.
Update: Jerry Newman was arrested about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in the area of 31st Street and Garnett Road.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Dwight Durant said Newman will be booked into Tulsa Jail in connection to the crash that killed an individual on U.S. 75 earlier Wednesday.
Tulsa Police Capt. Jason Holt said after Newman was named as a person of interest, police did interviews in a north Tulsa neighborhood he was known to frequent and obtained a phone number for Newman.
A trace located Newman's phone in a home in a neighborhood in the area of 31st Street and Garnett Road, where a trooper looked into the window of the home and saw Newman.
According to Holt, Newman tried to flee from the home but was caught and arrested.
The employer of the victim sent out a statement Wednesday afternoon naming the individual killed in the head-on crash as William Bruckman. OHP did not confirm the victim's name.
Spokesman Ron Shaffer said it appeared Bruckman was in his personal vehicle on his way to work at Containment Solutions' Tulsa facility near Mohawk Park when his car was hit head-on.
"Containment Solutions is saddened to confirm that our employee, Mr. William Bruckman was killed in an early morning vehicle accident during the Tulsa Police Department’s pursuit of a stolen vehicle," the statement read. "William was a valued member of our company since June of 2016 and will be truly missed by everyone that knew him. Our hearts and prayers are with Mrs. Bruckman and her family."
The pursuit of a suspected burglar early Wednesday morning in Sapulpa wove through midtown Tulsa and Tulsa's airport and ended in a fatal crash on a highway on the city's northside.
Jerry Newman, 24, has been identified as a person of interest, OHP told the Tulsa World. He is not being called a suspect at this time.
An unknown suspect, allegedly driving a stolen Oklahoma Natural Gas truck, collided head-on with sedan on U.S. 75 near the East Apache Street exit. The collision killed a person in the sedan. The suspect was driving the wrong way in the northbound lanes.
"We are investigating this as a murder," Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Dwight Durant said.
The suspect fled the scene, hopping a barbed wire and sheet metal fence to the east. Tulsa police quarantined a large block of neighborhoods east of North Lewis Avenue, between Pine and Apache streets.
Police searched homes, knocked on doors and attempted to track the suspect in that area throughout the afternoon.
The vehicle pursuit started at Rush Truck Center, located at South 49th West Avenue and West 61st Street in Sapulpa.
Sapulpa Police said about 5:45 a.m., they received a call transferred from Tulsa Police dispatchers, reporting a possible burglary in progress at the truck center, which is located in Tulsa County but inside Sapulpa city limits.
Lt. Troy Foreman, with Sapulpa Police, told reporters at an afternoon press conference that his department's officers responded and set up a perimeter around the truck center, a business that services large trucks. There, officers reportedly observed a man inside an Oklahoma Natural Gas truck inside the business' perimeter fence, who then drove the large truck through a fence toward an officer.
Sapulpa police pursued the suspect along Interstate 44, where he exited in Tulsa at South Harvard Avenue and East 51st Street.
The suspect headed north, eventually arriving at Tulsa International Airport. Foreman said at that point, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol assumed command of the pursuit.
The suspect plowed through a gate on the west side of the airport, dragging the gate a short distance, Tulsa International Airport spokeswoman Alexis Higgins said. He drove across the west runways and a pursuing trooper told investigators the suspect appeared to drive toward a commercial plane on the runway before turning around. Durant said the suspect came close to the airplane.
Troopers attempted two tactical vehicle intervention maneuvers. Both maneuvers failed to stop the vehicle. However, those efforts likely prevented an "event at the airport," Durant said.
The suspect exited the airport by driving through another fence, leading the chase by police to U.S. 75. The suspect appeared to enter the highway on the southbound ramp. But he jumped a curb and head southbound in the highway's northbound lanes.
“These pursuits, we recognize how dangerous they are, and they’re fluid ... at that point, we turn around and exit," Durant said.
At that point, Sapulpa Police Lt. Foreman said OHP ordered the pursuit by all law enforcement officers "terminated because of the danger presented to the public." Durant said rather than follow the suspect, law enforcement officials entered the highway to travel southbound in the proper lanes.
Troopers came upon a a wreck about 1 mile south of Apache Street. There, they found a crumpled compact sedan. The Oklahoma Natural Gas truck that had been stolen back in Sapulpa was crashed into a sheet metal and barbed wire fence next to the highway. The suspect was recorded on surveillance video at a business called Interstate Steel and Metals fleeing to the east, away from the scene of the fatal crash.
As of Wednesday morning, authorities had not yet identified the victim of the head-on collision. Durant said the victim of the fatality appeared to be an innocent person killed by a suspect driving the wrong way on U.S. 75.
Several agencies, including Tulsa and Sapulpa police, state troopers, and Tulsa firefighters, were involved in the response to the fatal crash and the pursuit.
The suspect is described as a heavyset white male with shoulder-length hair wearing shorts, possibly denim, and a red hoodie.
Story, video and photos: http://www.tulsaworld.com
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The driver of a stolen utility truck crashed through a fence at a Tulsa airport and into oncoming freeway traffic, where it plowed head-on into a car and killed one person early Wednesday, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Troopers said the driver later abandoned the vehicle and ran off. Officers were still searching for him Wednesday afternoon.
A trooper chasing the stolen vehicle on Tulsa International Airport property saw it barreling toward a parked private jet, Highway Patrolman Dwight Durant told The Associated Press. Worried there were passengers on the jet, the trooper tried to ram the truck, even though the truck outweighed his cruiser about two to three times, Durant said.
"He had an instant thought, 'The jet's loaded with people ready to take off,' and he thinks, 'I've got to do something,'" Durant said.
The maneuver diverted the truck away from the plane. The truck then crossed over a runway twice during the pursuit, burst through a fence and onto nearby U.S. 75, where it crashed head-on with another vehicle, killing one person.
The name of the person who died hasn't been released.
Airport spokeswoman Alexis Higgins said the truck came near a parked Gulfstream jet that had one person aboard but wasn't preparing to take off.
"The airport didn't even have anyone out there responding, it happened so quickly," Higgins said. "This happened within a minute or a couple minutes."
The truck crisscrossed a runway primarily used for corporate business aircraft and private jets, Higgins said. Higgins said the chase didn't disrupt regular air traffic, and that the runway was closed for about four hours.
Original article can be found here: http://www.sfchronicle.com
TULSA - Police are investigating a fatal wreck after several agencies were involved in a chase early Wednesday morning that led authorities onto a runway at the Tulsa International Airport.
Jerry Lee Newman, 24, is in custody in connection with the pursuit. He was arrested in the 10900 block of East 33rd Place.
Officials say the head-on collision occurred in the northbound lanes of Highway 75, just north of Pine.
The pursuit began in Sapulpa and continued through Tulsa after the suspect allegedly stole a utility vehicle.
According to police, the suspect then crashed through a perimeter gate at the Tulsa International Airport and was able to make it onto a runway.
Airport officials say the runway is not used for commercial flights and that no flights were affected.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says the suspect came close to a plane on the tarmac and that a trooper most likely prevented an event at the airport.
The pursuit then continued on Highway 75 where the fatal crash occurred, according to police.
Officers on scene say the suspect took off on foot after the wreck.
Story and video: http://www.kjrh.com
You know... I'm sick and tired of innocent people being killed by police chases in major metropolitan areas!!!
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand people don't want their property stolen, in no way is it OK for an innocent person to be killed when police are trying to stop someone from stealing an an "inanimate" object!!! In this case it was a truck.
I am NOT anti-police! I have several friends that are on local police forces and I respect and honor the fact they are willing to lay down their lives to protect us. I just think it's time for chasing people and risking lives while doing so needs to come to a stop in this day of high tech devices.
In this case, a man's family is destroyed!, at least one police car was probably destroyed, and a Gulfstream could have had millions of dollars of damage done to it all while trying to stop a thief driving an inanimate object!
It's especially not OK when the local police department has two helicopters equipped with the ability to track vehicles and people day and night and dozens of police cars.
Sure, try to stop the guy when the the incident starts but if that is not successful then get on the radio and let everyone know what's happening, follow the suspect "at a distance" keeping them insight, get the helicopters in the air, then back off the chase completely and let the "eyes in the sky" track them while keeping the ground units informed of where they are headed. Once the guy stops then take him down.
And yes, I understand sometimes the chases don't last long enough to get a copter in the air. Many times there is time, especially if one is already in the air.
I know this sounds all simple and easy and I know it's not but in this day and age of high tech devices it's just stupid to risk the life of "every" person you pass on the road while chasing a suspect in the theft of an inanimate object! If it's a murder suspect, that's a different story.
Speaking of a high tech device, why don't they develop a small GPS device with a metal piercing leg on it that could be shot into the side of a car from a specially made gun and then they could just sit back and track it until it stops! Shouldn't be rocket science!