Officer injured, 11 vehicles involved in collisions during police pursuit in Stillwater

One person is in custody after a police pursuit through Stillwater, with 11 vehicles involved in collisions and one Stillwater officer sent to Stillwater Medical Center with injuries.

A total of three additional injuries from the other vehicles were reported, and all declined medical treatment, Public Information Officer Kyle Bruce said.

Other officers were injured during the pursuit but didn’t need medical treatment.

Bruce said the SPD Special Projects Unit conducted a traffic stop and made initial contact with the driver and passenger in the suspect vehicle when the driver “took off from the traffic stop.”

With further investigation, Bruce said the passenger wasn't involved and was released.

Bruce said officers began pursuing the driver when the vehicle went south on Western Road and approached Sixth Street.

He said, at that point, the alleged suspect ran several vehicles off the road. He said four of the 11 cars hit were police cars.

“The suspect again, like I said, ran into and rammed, crashed into seven other vehicles during the pursuit throughout the whole incident,” Bruce said.

As far as he knows, Bruce said no one else was injured during the pursuit and crash, which he said lasted approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

The injured officer
The officer’s identity isn’t being released, but Bruce said the officer was performing a Tactical Vehicle Intervention (TVI), such as a PIT maneuver, on the suspect vehicle.

"An officer performed a tactical vehicle intervention (TVI) maneuver at 6th and Perkins. The pickup stopped briefly in the roadway. As other police vehicles attempted to pin the pickup, the driver then rammed the two police vehicles in an attempt to flee," Bruce said.

“At some point during that maneuver, his vehicle crashed. I don’t know if it crashed into the suspect vehicle or some other object,” Bruce said. “He was actually able to get out of his vehicle and pursue after the individuals.”

The officer is currently being treated at Stillwater Medical.

“What I’ve been told is nothing major, minor injuries,” Bruce said. “Maybe soft tissue injuries. He’ll probably be released from the hospital here later.”

Information on the alleged suspect
The driver was identified as Carlos Javier Lopez, 31. Bruce said Carlos is being charged with multiple assault with a deadly weapon and felony pursuit. "Lopez has two outstanding felony warrants from Ochiltree County, Texas, and a Felony ADW on an officer warrant from Osage County," Bruce said.

“They weren’t able to climb over to get out of the way, so yeah, they were apprehended shortly after,” Bruce said.

The reason for the traffic stop wasn’t released, but Bruce said Special Projects are typically involved in drug-related offenses. Bruce didn’t know if drugs were found in the suspect’s vehicle.

Behind the pursuit
Bruce said officers have to consider everything when going through pursuits.

“The point where it became a felony traffic stop or felony pursuit was when he was trying to run vehicles off the roadways,” Bruce said. “At that point, it is a danger. It is a hazard we need to address. That’s kind of the reason we needed to continue this one.”

Bruce said continuing the pursuit was important because officers didn’t know why the suspect was eluding officers, and he was running people off the roadway.

“So he is a danger and a threat. At that point, we’ve gotta kind of initiate and continue the pursuit until we can take him into custody.”
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