Oklahoma Deputies Injured During Pursuit

March 06--TAHLEQUAH -- A Cherokee County sheriff's deputy was scheduled for surgery Monday afternoon after he and another deputy rolled their vehicles during an early Sunday morning pursuit.

Deputy Bronson McNiel was taken to the intensive-care unit at a local hospital and listed in stable condition after the crash. McNiel suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung from the crash, he told Capt. Bob Sanders Monday morning.

According to Sanders, sheriff's dispatchers received a call at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning about people shooting a firearm from a vehicle near Caney Ridge. Deputy Nick Harkreader, who was in the area, pulled off the road to wait for the suspects' vehicle, Sanders said.

McNiel was also responding to the call and passed Harkreader's parked unit before the suspects' vehicle traveled through the area, Sanders said. When the suspects' vehicle later passed by Harkreader's, he began following them and attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver refused to pull over.

Sanders said a pursuit began, and the suspects' vehicle eventually caught up to and passed McNiel, who then joined the chase.

"They traveled into Adair County, and eventually turned south toward Cave Springs," said Sanders. "Somewhere on that road, it came to a 90-degree curve."

The suspects' vehicle negotiated the turn, but McNiel and Harkreader both failed to make the curve on the dirt road and crashed, Sanders said. Harkreader's car rolled several times, and suffered minor injuries.

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol report indicates McNiel's car rolled a quarter turn, landing on its passenger-side door. McNiel was unable to exit his vehicle, Sanders said.

Both deputies were transported by Stilwell EMS to a Tahlequah hospital, where Harkreader was treated and later released.

According to the OHP, the crash occurred on County Road 4660 approximately five miles west of Stilwell.

The suspects' vehicle crashed about a half mile from the scene of the deputies' crash, Sanders said. Adair County officers and Cherokee Nation marshals assisted in arresting three suspects, who were in the Adair County Jail Monday afternoon.

Joshua Farris, 21, of Stilwell, was booked for driving under the influence, possession of paraphernalia, transporting an open container and leaving the scene of a crash involving injuries, according to deputies at the Adair County Sheriff's Department.

Roy Rabbit, 22, of Stilwell, and Mark Cooper, 20, of Sallisaw, were both arrested for public intoxication.

Sanders said he was told no firearm was found in the suspects' vehicle, but officers did locate spent shell casings.

"From what we have been told at this point, the suspects weren't shooting at anyone or anything in particular, they were just shooting," said Sanders.

The sheriff's office will pull radio logs and conduct an investigation into the incident, Sanders said. The deputies' vehicles suffered extensive damage from the crash.

Harkreader has been with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office for approximately three months, and McNiel has been a deputy for about three years.

McNiel was cleared just last month in a Feb. 1 shooting incident near Norwood.

During that call, McNiel was responding to a noise complaint at the home of Richard Charles Ogg, 56, when Ogg produced a firearm and pointed it at McNiel's face, investigators said.

District Attorney Brian Kuester said Ogg fired shots at McNiel, and the deputy returned fire, hitting and killing Ogg.

Kuester later determined the shooting was justified, saying McNiel "did what was necessary to protect himself."

Copyright 2012 - Tahlequah Daily Press, Okla.