A man is in custody after Tulsa police say he threatened another man with a gun outside a downtown bar, then crashed into two vehicles and a bridge while trying to escape officers. The chase, which began near East 2nd Street South and South Elgin Avenue, ended with the suspect running from a wrecked car and jumping a business fence before officers caught up with him.
According to KTUL, officers were flagged down around 2 a.m. Saturday by a man who said he had just been threatened with a gun outside a bar in the area. The victim identified the suspect's vehicle to police, setting off the chain of events that followed.
Officers Asked Him to Stop, He Drove Off Instead
Police asked the suspect to put his vehicle in park, but instead he took off down East 2nd Street South, according to FOX23. While trying to get away, he crashed into two other vehicles. The people inside those cars reported minor injuries, the station reported.
Officers briefly lost sight of the suspect during the pursuit. He didn't get far: his vehicle ended up crashing into the bridge under I-244 near North Peoria Avenue, and when officers arrived at that scene, they saw him running away on foot, per the same report.
Chase Ends With a Fence Jump and a Hospital Stop
Officers followed the suspect over a fence at a nearby business and got him into handcuffs. Even then, the station notes, he tried to run again as officers began questioning him. He was ultimately taken to a hospital to be medically cleared before being booked into jail.
The suspect faces several allegations stemming from the incident: endangering others while eluding, threatening an act of violence, aggravated DUI, leaving the scene of an injury collision, and escape from arrest, per the report.
Not the First Bridge-Adjacent Chase This Year
Downtown and midtown police chases ending near the I-244 corridor aren't unheard of in Tulsa. On New Year's Day, officers pursued a car after a report of street racers near Apache and N. David Patrick Avenue, a chase that KTUL reported was called off due to the risk to other drivers, only for the car to later crash off the northbound ramp to Highway 169 near I-244. In that case, the driver and a 15-year-old passenger fled the wreck on foot and were taken into custody.
