A 30-year-old man is facing a second-degree murder charge after a crash that killed a juvenile passenger riding with him in late September. Brad Jones was arrested and booked into the Cleveland County Detention Center after Cleveland County officials filed the charge and an arrest warrant against him on October 7.
According to KFOR, emergency crews and Norman Police Department officers responded to a crash in the 3600 block of Classen Boulevard on September 29. A preliminary investigation that included video evidence indicated a small sedan was traveling southbound on Classen before it turned eastbound, crossing into the northbound lanes and colliding with a pickup truck, as KOKH reported.
Juvenile Passenger Died at the Scene
The sedan was occupied by Jones and a juvenile male, and the juvenile was pronounced dead at the scene, per the same KFOR report. Jones himself sustained injuries in the crash and was transported to a local hospital, according to KOKH. The driver of the pickup truck suffered only minor injuries and declined medical treatment at the scene, the station's report noted.
A separate account from News9 described the crash differently, reporting it happened around 7:30 p.m. in the 3600 block of Cedar Lane near 36th Avenue Southeast, with one person killed and two others injured and taken to the hospital. The discrepancies between the two accounts — including the crash location and the number of people hurt — have not been resolved in available reporting.
Murder Charge Filed More Than a Week Later
The Cleveland County District Attorney's Office filed the second-degree murder charge against Jones on October 7, more than a week after the crash, along with the arrest warrant that led to his booking. The crash remains under investigation, and no additional details about the charge's legal basis have been released.
Cases where a driver faces murder charges over a fatal crash are not unheard of elsewhere in the country. In Oxnard, California, a driver accused of being under the influence and speeding at more than 100 mph before a crash that killed two people was also charged with murder, prosecutors there announced, according to KTLA.
