Published: September 25, 2008 10:51 am      

Sheriff’s deputy involved in accident

Old Highway 7 pursuit leads to rollover, officer OK

VELMA — VELMA — A Stephens County Sheriff’s deputy was not seriously injured Monday in a rollover accident on old Oklahoma Highway 7 near Velma.

Trooper Thomas Winton with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Deputy Casey Miller had some bruises and scrapes. Though the injuries were minor, Miller was taken to Duncan Regional Hospital to be checked as a precautionary measure.

Miller was in pursuit of a person suspected of carrying stolen oil field equipment when he lost control of his cruiser and left the road, Winton said.

“He was trying to catch up to a vehicle that had some suspected stolen property,” Winton said. “He met a car on this curve and then ran off the roadway a little to the right and over-corrected.”

Miller’s vehicle wound up on its side in a brush-filled creekbed, about 5 feet below the road surface.

Winton said the vehicle landed on a tree that had been gnawed by beavers.

If the beavers had not chewed through the tree as much as they did, the accident could have been far worse.

Miller, who is part of a K-9 unit, had his dog in the vehicle with him. The dog was not injured.

To free the dog from the vehicle, deputies first broke the car’s side windows, but the dog refused to come out. They then broke the back window, which was right above the creekbed, and the dog jumped out, Winton said.

Because of the accident, the suspect was not apprehended, but the Sheriff’s Department will continue to search for the vehicle and the suspect, Winton said. The department has a description of the suspect’s vehicle, Winton said.

Cost for the deputy’s car will more than likely be absorbed by the county, which is not uncommon, Winton said.

“It’s kind of inevitable at some point that something like this is going to happen, unfortunately,” he said.



Clarification

In a front page story Tuesday, about the Stephens County Sheriff’s Department vehicle, the term “pursuit” was incorrectly used.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Thomas Winton said that a pursuit happens only when an individual is actively trying to get away and elude an officer.

Winton said that Stephens County Deputy Sheriff Casey Miller was merely trying to catch up to an oil field theft suspect vehicle.