No charges yet in wake of high-speed crash
No charges had been filed as of press time Friday against a 24-year-old Edmond woman who led a Kingfisher County sheriff’s deputy on a high-speed chase that ended in a fiery crash last Tuesday.
Both the woman and Deputy Kyle Svoboda walked away from the collision that resulted when Svoboda deliberately directed his patrol vehicle into the side of the Chevrolet Avalanche the woman was driving to end the chase.
Known as tactical vehicle intervention, or TVI, the deliberate maneuver was authorized by Kingfisher County Sheriff Dennis Banther who was en-route to the scene.
According to the sheriff’s report, Svoboda contacted him via radio to request permission, due to concern that the speed (exceeding 100 miles per hour on rural roads) and direction (nearing the vicinity of Lomega schools) created a public hazard.
“I believed we were near the time Chisholm Trail vo-Tech would be releasing students to be driving back to Kingfisher. I also knew we were driving towards Lomega High School where students could be leaving for lunch by the time we arrived in their vicinity,” Banther wrote in the report. “Will all the factors present, I authorized Deputy Svoboda to perform the maneuver.”
Svoboda was initially dispatched to Henry’s Construction at 619 N. 13th St. about 10:46 a.m. at the request of Kingfisher Police Department, which had received a call about a suspicious person at the business, located just outside city limits.
KPD Lt. Travis Gray also was dispatched to assist, according to a police department report.
When Svoboda arrived, the suspect was attempting to leave the business in a gray Avalanche and Svoboda parked in front of her with his emergency lights activated, according to his report.
The woman gave her name but refused Svoboda’s requests to get out of the vehicle and then as Svoboda was radioing dispatch to check her identifying information, she rolled up the window and put the vehicle in gear, according to the deputy’s report.
With the deputy running alongside and pounding on the window, the woman turned and drove across the front yard of the construction company and out the north exit.
Svoboda got back into his vehicle and pursued the Avalanche north down 13th Street to 770 Road, where she ran the stop sign and headed west, at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour and swerving all over the road, according to the report.
At 10:57 a.m., Svoboda radioed Banther, who was en route in his vehicle, and requested permission to attempt the TVI by driving alongside the suspect’s vehicle, but his first attempt was thwarted when the vehicle swerved in front of the deputy’s vehicle, according to the report.
In a second attempt, Svoboda was able to pull alongside and swerve into the side of the vehicle, knocking it from the road.
However, Svoboda lost control of his own vehicle on the loose gravel, and it flipped several times, landing on the driver’s side in the south ditch. He was able to push out the windshield and crawl out before the vehicle caught fire.
Gray, who had been following the pursuit in his patrol car, came upon the wreck and called for an ambulance before helping Svoboda from the ditch.
The Avalanche came to rest on its wheels, also in the south ditch, and the driver crawled out the driver’s side window.
According to both Gray and Svoboda’s accounts, they drew their weapons and ordered her to the ground, but she did not comply.
It took both officers to get the suspect into handcuffs and check her for weapons and then she was held in Gray’s vehicle until an ambulance arrived and transported her to the hospital.
Svoboda also was taken to the hospital by sheriff’s vehicle, where he was treated for glass fragments in his eye and released.
The sheriff’s office reports, along with dash cam videos, were submitted to the Kingfisher County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of appropriate charges.