The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

Local news

Discussion

February 8, 2013

Major County deputy shoots suspect fleeing in sheriff's vehicle

By Dave Altman, Special to the News & Eagle Enid News and Eagle

FAIRVIEW, Okla. — A Major County Sheriff’s Office deputy is on paid administrative leave, and a Watonga man is in an Oklahoma City hospital being treated for gunshot wounds following a series of incidents Thursday afternoon.

Major County Sheriff Steve Randolph said a woman called the sheriff’s office at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and reported a man was trying to break into a house four miles east of Fairview. Deputy Darin Reames responded to the call and found a pickup parked at the house.

Reames radioed his office for a license tag check, then approached the vehicle. He got the driver out of the truck about the time his dispatcher radioed the pickup had been reported stolen from Watonga. Reames got the driver, a man later identified as Edgar Borjas, 30, of Watonga, on the ground and handcuffed, Randolph said. Reames noticed there was a second person in the pickup, a woman sitting on the passenger side.

Reames got the woman out of the pickup and was handcuffing her when he heard his Tahoe patrol vehicle starting. Reames drew his weapon as Borjas attempted to run over him, Randolph said, and fired three times — once through the windshield, once through the side window and once through the back window as the Tahoe sped off.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Donald Kraft spotted the deputy’s vehicle going south on Oklahoma 8 about three miles north of Okeene and gave chase. The chase roared through Okeene and south, then back west, where the suspect crashed at a T-intersection six miles south and four miles west of Okeene. Kraft called for backup, and units from Blaine County Sheriff’s Office, Okeene Police Department, Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Randolph responded.

The suspect wouldn’t come out of the vehicle until officers were able to contact him on a cellphone and talk him out, Randolph said. He was taken by ambulance to Watonga Hospital, then airlifted to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

Randolph said Friday Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is handling the investigation of the shooting. Meanwhile, Borjas was found to have numerous warrants against him from Blaine County, and also is in the country illegally, Randolph said.



Altman is publisher of Fairview E-News.

Text Only
Local news