[OT] Four die in Oklahoma City police chase

KaMaKaZe

New member
Thought all the numerous LEOs around here would be interested:

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Four die in Oklahoma City police chase

By JUDI BOLAND, Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (August 31, 2000 9:36 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A police chase that ended up going the wrong way on an interstate highway early Thursday morning ended in a fiery crash that killed four people, including a police officer and a state trooper.

The officer was chasing a car with two people inside when the car went up an exit ramp and headed east in the westbound lanes of Interstate 40, authorities said. Police didn't know what prompted the chase.

The car hit a tractor-trailer as it topped a hill and then collided with a westbound car driven by a passing state trooper, authorities said. The officer's eastbound patrol car piled into the wreckage.

The crash at about 3 a.m. ignited a fireball that lit up the night sky and shut down the busy crosstown highway for hours.

"Major crash. Major crash. Major crash. Start fire. Officer down....82. Start everybody," another officer who came upon the scene said in a call to dispatchers that was played by police.

Trooper Matt Evans, 24, was dead at the scene. Officer Jeff Rominger, 42, was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Both occupants of the car were thrown from the car and killed. One of them was identified as Patrick Kiplinger, 41, of Oklahoma City, police said. Authorities said Kiplinger had a lengthy criminal record and was released from a state prison in October.

The second passenger remained unidentified Thursday evening.

Rominger, like Evans, had been headed to help another trooper with a possible drug stop. His last words to a police dispatcher reported the highway chase but did not give a reason for the pursuit.

A highway patrol spokesman, Lt. Chris West, said Evans wasn't aware of the chase.

"This tragic incident should remind us all of the countless sacrifices our law enforcement professionals make each day to protect lives and property," Gov. Frank Keating said.
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The story can be found HERE.

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God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!

oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"

As seen in Atlanta's AJC, The Vent: "Hey, where do you sign up for one of Mr. Gore's new giveaway programs?"
 
I was working about 2 miles east of where this happened.

I got off work at 6am and was heading east home but noticed that ALL onramps westbound on I-40 were blocked by police. Usually we sometimes have construction that blocks all this. Even stranger when I get on the interastate eastbound I noticed for the next 2 miles that there was NO westbound traffic. Keep in mind this is downtown OKC! Westbound is packed with hundreds of cars any minute of the morning. I turned on to a local talk raido station and heard the sad news! Flags have been lowered half staff Thursday and Friday for the officers that died.

The perp they were chasing had previous run ins with the law as well!

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Try to take away my gun...and you will see my 2nd Amendment Right in ACTION!!! -Me

FOR THE CHILDREN!!!!
 
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