Oklahoma City police say a man spinning burnout donuts near SW 31st and Miller Avenue tried to flee when officers moved in, touching off a pursuit that ended with two vehicles struck on SW 30th Street and multiple felony charges against the driver. Jaramy Yeats, 36, was arrested after the crash and now faces a stack of charges tied to the chase, along with three outstanding felony warrants out of two counties.
According to KOKH, officers attempted to stop a red Dodge Challenger on Saturday after watching the driver perform burnout donuts near SW 31st and Miller Avenue. Instead of pulling over, the driver took off, reaching speeds over 60 mph as police pursued the vehicle on SW 30th Street. A female passenger exited the Challenger on SW 30th Street during the chase, and the station's report does not indicate she was charged with eluding.
Two Vehicles Struck Before the Chase Ended
The pursuit continued until the driver failed to stop at two stop signs near SW 30th Street and Agnew Avenue, striking two vehicles in the process, per the same account. The Challenger eventually stopped rolling, and the driver was removed from the vehicle at that point. Police identified the driver as Yeats and took him into custody after the pursuit and crash.
Yeats was charged with eluding a police officer, reckless driving, failure to stop at a stop sign, causing an accident resulting in injury, operating a vehicle involved in an accident without insurance, and driving while his license was revoked, the outlet reports. He also had two outstanding felony warrants from Oklahoma County and one outstanding felony warrant from Canadian County, bringing his total to three active felony warrants at the time of his arrest. Public arrest records reviewed by Busted Newspaper show Yeats was previously booked into the Oklahoma County Jail in October 2025 on an alleged traffic offense, predating his latest arrest.
Why Eluding Alone Can Carry Felony Weight
Under Oklahoma law, the elements of eluding a peace officer apply specifically to the person operating the vehicle, according to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals uniform jury instructions — which explains why the passenger who exited the Challenger was not named among the eluding charges. Separately, Oklahoma Statutes Title 21 § 540A classifies willfully fleeing an officer in a way that endangers others or causes a collision as a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines as high as $5,000, according to Justia Law.
The hit-and-run exposure adds another layer. Oklahoma Statutes Title 47 §§ 10-102 and 10-104 make leaving the scene of an accident involving injury without rendering aid or exchanging insurance information a felony, carrying potential prison terms ranging from 10 days to two years, per Branch & Dhillon, P.C. It remains unclear how severe the injuries were in the two vehicles Yeats is accused of striking.
Warrants Crossing County Lines
Yeats's felony warrants span Oklahoma and Canadian counties, a jurisdictional reach made possible by the state's fresh pursuit statute. Oklahoma Statutes Title 47 § 2-117 grants law enforcement fresh pursuit authority, allowing officers to continue chasing fleeing violators across municipal or county lines, according to Justia Law. It is not yet clear from available records what underlying felony offenses are attached to Yeats's multi-county warrants.
The Oklahoma City Police Department updated its pursuit policy in June 2022 to bar officers from exceeding posted speed limits by more than 15 mph on city streets and to require pursuits to be self-terminated when public safety is threatened, according to the Oklahoma City Free Press. Any pursuit that ends in a crash or evasion is required to go through administrative review handled by Professional Standards and the Police Training Center, per OKC FOP Lodge 123 procedures. Whether that review will examine officer speed compliance in this case has not been reported.
A Pattern Playing Out Across Oklahoma
This is not an isolated incident in the metro. Hoodline previously reported on a brief chase ending near Classen that also resulted in a felony eluding arrest, and on a domestic-call pursuit on Nettie Street that ended in a crash and manhunt. Statewide, a 45-mile chase across Kiowa County and a fatal Ardmore pursuit that ended with a driver plunging into a ravine have added to a string of similar cases this year.
Oklahoma lawmakers have taken notice. Senate Bill 871, considered during the 2025–2026 legislative session, proposed adding eluding resulting in serious bodily injury to the state's 85% mandatory sentence list, alongside felony prison terms of up to seven years, according to BillTrack50. The push reflects a broader national reckoning with pursuit risk: a Hoodline report citing San Francisco Chronicle findings documented at least 3,336 deaths connected to police vehicle pursuits nationwide between 2017 and 2022.
The City of Oklahoma City's own safety guidance instructs drivers signaled by police to pull over immediately in a safe, well-lit location, keep their hands visible, and avoid fleeing, noting explicitly that escape attempts trigger mandatory vehicle impoundment and criminal arrest. Yeats's case, with its stacked charges and multi-county warrants, illustrates just how quickly that calculus can escalate once a driver decides to run.
