Tulsa Police

A woman was treated and released from a Tulsa hospital Wednesday after apparently being shot while driving on I-244.

Tulsa Police responded to the call just before 11 a.m. A woman driving east on I-244 pulled over between Yale and Harvard after hearing a pop, and thinking it might have been one of her tires, but then she felt pain in her stomach and realized she was bleeding.

Police say they saw a hole near the driver’s side door handle that looked like a bullet hole.

Tulsa Police said on Tuesday the first 30 days of a new initiative aimed at taking on an uptick in violent crime led to dozens of arrests and the seizure of more than 200 guns.

Chief Wendell Franklin said TPD crime analysts have been looking into more than 80 incidents going back to April to help officers’ on-the-ground investigations.

A former Tulsa Police officer who pleaded guilty to federal firearms charges has been sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

Chief U.S. District Judge John F. Heil sentenced Latoya Dythe, 27, on Tuesday. In April, Dythe pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make a false statement to a firearms dealer and to false statement to a firearms dealer.

Tulsa Police have arrested five people — three of them under 18 — in connection with the theft of several luxury cars from homes in south Tulsa, Jenks and Bixby.

Lt. Chase Calhoun said they’re part of a group that’s stolen as many as 25 cars over the past two weeks.

"Based on the interview with some of these suspects, information was provided that they are actually targeting these vehicles in these certain areas because there are a lot of vehicles being left unlocked with the keys inside," Calhoun said.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma man has been arrested after being accused of trying to steal a firetruck.

Tulsa police say they were called to a fire station around 3 a.m. on Saturday.

After arriving at the scene, police found a group of Tulsa firefighters holding down a suspect.

Firefighters told police that they found the man after hearing glass break and the sound of the ladder truck’s horn going off.

Police allege the man had started the truck and tried driving through the fire station’s overhead doors before firefighters discovered what he was doing.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum wants to put a permanent property tax for public safety on the ballot in August 2022.

Bynum told city councilors Wednesday that’s his plan under a new state law allowing public safety districts, which cities can create to dedicate generally stable property tax revenue to their police and fire departments rather than just sales tax.

The Tulsa Police Department on Monday announced the arrest of one of their own officers in connection with an alleged on-duty drunk driving incident in which he crashed his patrol car into another vehicle.

In a news release, TPD said Officer Todd Snedegar was arrested on the morning of Saturday, July 3, after he called in his own crash near 4000 S. Memorial Dr. to dispatchers.

Some midtown Tulsa residents heard the sounds of a gun battle late Sunday night.

Tulsa Police said officers found a large crowd at the 21st Street and Yale Avenue Whataburger around 11:20 p.m., and once they got to the middle of the gathering, they found a 19-year-old man inside a black Dodge Challenger riddled with bullet holes who had been shot 10 times, including in the neck.

Ofc. Danny Bean said witnesses told officers there was an altercation during a private party across the street at Safari Joe's H2O water park that somehow escalated.

A man died in Tulsa police custody Wednesday evening after experiencing what TPD is describing as "respiratory distress."

According to a news release, officers pursued two men who ran from them out of a group of three near 31st Street and Memorial Drive during a regular patrol aimed at reducing gun violence in the area.

One of those men, Emmitt Weaver, stopped running after a short distance, apparently because he was struggling to breathe. Police say they briefly handcuffed Weaver but seeing his condition, uncuffed him to let him use his inhaler.

The Tulsa Police Department expects a review of its community policing efforts will be done in mid-fall.

Nonprofit research firm CNA was chosen for the evaluation last year, and it is currently nearing release of an online survey and coordinating meetings with community stakeholders. Capt. Shellie Seibert is TPD's liaison to CNA. She told city councilors last week they are looking forward to receiving the report, but that won't be the end of the process.

Cities the size of Tulsa saw a 31% increase in murder last year, and in some places that trend is continuing in 2021.

So far this year, though, homicides are down in Tulsa. Brandon Watkins is a lieutenant at Tulsa Police Department.

“So far this year we’ve had 24 homicides. Compared to basically the same time last year we were looking at 32. Last year was a particularly bad year,” said Watkins.

A council working group tasked with finding ways to improve trust and accountability for the Tulsa Police Department is still developing potential policies, but it has made one suggestion: business cards for every officer.

During a recent visit with Sand Springs Police, working group members learned every officer there carries business cards with their name and contact information on them to give to people they encounter. 

Councilor Lori Decter Wright said that would be an easy way to humanize officers in situations that can be stressful for people who don’t trust them.

Members of the Tulsa City Council on Wednesday discussed possible actions they and the Tulsa Police Department can take to prevent or discourage illegal street racing on the Broken Arrow Expressway and other roadways across the city.

Councilor Kara Joy McKee sponsored the agenda item for the council's urban and economic development committee meeting in response to constituent complaints she said she has received and seen on social media.

Tulsa is preparing for its second consecutive June featuring thousands of visitors, demonstrations and a visit from the President of the United States, and the head of the city's police force said Wednesday they're better prepared from having experienced it last year.

People of color are underrepresented within the Tulsa Police Department, but a new program could help change that.

Currently dubbed the Oklahoma Guardian Development Project, it would seek to start reaching Tulsa Public Schools students in high school, putting them in touch with mentors and guiding them into classes at Tulsa Community College and then OSU-Tulsa before the police academy.

Two Tulsa police officers were among the first recipients of state-level awards for heroism.

Gov. Kevin Stitt awarded Oklahoma Purple Hearts to Ofc. Aurash Zarkeshan and Sgt. Craig Johnson in a ceremony at the capitol Tuesday afternoon.

Zarkeshan and Johnson were shot during a traffic stop last June. Johnson died of his injuries the day after the shooting. His widow, Kristi Johnson, accepted his medal from Stitt.

Oklahoma's senior U.S. Senator, Jim Inhofe, visited the Tulsa Fallen Officers' Memorial at the Tulsa Police Academy Friday to recognize National Police Week and announce legislation that would provide federal funding to help train law enforcement officers in dealing with individuals experiencing mental illness.

"There's a lot of opposition to law enforcement," Inhofe said. "It's just unbelievable that there is. We thought we would get out where people could see us and really understand what this is all about."

At a virtual press briefing following his presentation of a proposed fiscal year 2022 budget to the Tulsa City Council, Mayor G.T. Bynum said Wednesday that while Tulsa Police Department staffing is not being targeted for an increase this year, he plans to pursue adding more than 100 patrol officers as part of next year's budget proposal.

Tulsa police are looking for a missing 10-year-old boy. He could be considered endangered because of his age.

Aaron Bryant was last seen Wednesday around 7 p.m. near Savanna Landing apartments at 61st Street and Peoria Avenue.

Bryant is Black and was wearing a blue Aeropostale hoodie, black sweatpants, and white and green Nike Jordans. He was with another Black boy around 14 to 16 years old.

Anyone with information is asked to call TPD at 918-596-9222.

The Tulsa Police Department dedicated and unveiled a memorial to Ofc. Jerad Lindsey on the grounds of their training facility on Sunday.

TPD Chief Wendell Franklin and Mayor G.T. Bynum were among the officials in attendance at the ceremony for Lindsey, who also chaired the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.

The department said in a statement that Lindsey's is the 41st monument at the Tulsa Police Officers' Memorial, which recognizes dead officers from 1917 to present.

Local and federal authorities are investigating a bomb scare at U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe’s Tulsa offices.

There was a series of emails mentioning explosives along with Inhofe’s Tulsa and D.C. offices. The Robert W. Davis Tower near 21st Street and Utica Avenue was evacuated before noon Tuesday, and the Tulsa Police bomb squad searched the building, including Inhofe’s offices, with sniffer dogs for about half an hour.

No explosive devices were found.

TPD, the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI are determining who sent the emails.

Tulsa Police have arrested a man who drove into the Arkansas River during a Monday early morning pursuit, a crash that left a woman dead.

Jose Alan Lara-Garcia, 23, was arrested Tuesday evening and booked into the Tulsa County Jail on charges including first-degree manslaughter.

Police say they tried to stop him for reckless driving near 61st Street and Peoria Avenue on Monday, but he took off west on 61st, losing control at Riverside and driving into the river.

A Tulsa Police dive team recovered the body of a 19-year-old woman on Tuesday morning, the day after a pursuit ended with a car crashing into the Arkansas River at 61st Street.

Police found the woman around 9 a.m. on Tuesday close to where the car went into the water. She has been identified as Nathaly Medina. She would have turned 20 on Wednesday.

TPD said calmer conditions and receding water helped them find Medina's body.

Updated March 3, 6:38 p.m.

The trial for a man charged as the getaway driver in the June 2020 shooting of two Tulsa police officers started Wednesday.

Matthew Hall, 29, faces two counts of being an accessory to a felony. Prosecutors allege he drove David Ware from the traffic stop in east Tulsa where Tulsa Police Ofc. Aurash Zarkeshan and Sgt. Craig Johnson were shot and that Hall helped get rid of the gun that was used.

The trial for a man accused of being a getaway driver after the shooting of two Tulsa police officers last year is expected to begin this week.

Matthew Hall faces an accessory to murder charge. Authorities say he drove David Ware from the scene of the June shooting where Sgt. Craig Johnson was killed and Ofc. Aurash Zarkeshan was seriously wounded.

Jury selection for Hall’s trial was delayed, with Tulsa County District Judge Bill Musseman blaming the COVID-19 pandemic for shrinking the jury pool and delaying trials.

Hall has pleaded not guilty.