(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Perkins man — whose car reportedly crashed following a high-speed chase into Lincoln County — was arraigned Wednesday from the Payne County Jail on a felony charge of eluding Perkins Police Officer Kyle Howard and endangering other persons on the road.
John Thomas Sebree IV, 22, was arrested Friday and jailed on $20,000 bail. He was already facing a six-count felony charge related to allegedly stolen property. He had been freed on $5,000 bail in that case in June.
If convicted of all of his felony counts, Sebree could be given a 35-year prison term and an $8,000 fine, court records show.
The Perkins police officer wrote in an affidavit filed Friday that at about 9:30 p.m. on July 1 he was on patrol when he noticed a car with high beams that picked up speed and turned onto S.E. Third Street.
When the vehicle went to Highway 177 south, it “failed to stop at the stop sign, disregarding any citizen’s safety and went south,” the affidavit alleged.
“I slowed for traffic and followed behind the vehicle. I noticed there were several vehicles both in the north and south lanes stopped or slowing,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“I had the accelerator of my vehicle all the way to the floor of the vehicle, but I was still falling behind the vehicle,” even though the patrol car exceeded 120 m.p.h., the officer wrote in the affidavit.
“I would catch up to the vehicle in curves, but once the vehicle exited the curves, it would go faster than my patrol unit.
“During the pursuit on Highway 177 south, the suspect vehicle would pass vehicles going over 100 m.p.h. I followed the vehicle to the city of Carney, Lincoln County.
“I was still going over 120 m.p.h., but slowed my speeds because of traffic within the city. I saw the suspect vehicle pass a car — just missing a semi going northbound.
“When I got to the vehicle he passed, the same semi was blocking my path. I lost sight of the vehicle and terminated the pursuit,” the Perkins officer wrote in his affidavit.
“I was told by a vehicle (driver) that flagged me down that the vehicle went eastbound on Hammerpark (840 Rd.) and possibly wrecked. I went down this road about a mile, but did not see anything,” the Perkins officer wrote in his affidavit.
“Lincoln County Deputy Tanner Hand came on scene and I passed along all my info to him,” the Perkins officer wrote in his affidavit.
At about 11:30 p.m. the Perkins officer called the deputy who said that the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office found a vehicle near where the pursuit ended that was wrecked in the middle of 860 Road, two miles south of Hammerpark Road and seven miles east of Highway 177, the affidavit said.
“Deputy Hand sent me a photo of the vehicle’s rear with the lights illuminated and it matched the vehicle I was pursuing. The tag came back to a John Sebree, who I know from several previous contacts,” the Perkins officer wrote in his affidavit.
Sebree’s house was located less than half a mile from where the pursuit started, the affidavit said.
When the Perkins officer went to Sebree’s residence, Perkins Lt. Jason Galt “knocked on the door and yelled ‘police department,"” but no one appeared to be home, the affidavit said.
The following night at about 6:45 p.m. “I was told by Payne County dispatch that John Sebree was at the Perkins Police Department and wanted to report his vehicle stolen,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“Before I spoke to John Sebree, I noticed bruising on his left arm and two black eyes. He also had additional swelling around his face. It appeared to me that this was possibly from hitting his face on a steering wheel during the wreck of the Camaro,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“I asked John if he came to turn himself in for running from me the night prior, and he told me no — that his car was stolen. I told him that I did not believe that, but John continued to say it was stolen,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“I warned him that if I figured out he was the driver of the vehicle and requested charges, I would also request a charge for false report of a crime. John seemed very nervous and was shaking.
“After noticing he was hesitant to write a statement, I asked him when he noticed his car was stolen. He said, ‘this morning.’ I asked him why he would wait 12 hours to report his car stolen, but he did not have an answer and replied ‘I don’t know.’
“John wrote one word on his statement ‘I’ and threw down his pen and told me, ‘Be for real, what am I looking at for this?’ I told him I’ll write a warrant request in Payne County for at least eluding, but he would not be arrested today.
“John hung his head and said he ran because he was afraid to go to jail. He stated he has six pending cases in Payne County. John did not elaborate as to why he thought he would be going to jail.
“John Sebree told me that as soon as I turned around, he knew he was getting pulled over and panicked. He also stated that he had a cold air intake system in his vehicle, and the vehicle maxed out at 150 m.p.h.
“John apologized for lying, but did not want to get in any more trouble and also admitted to endangering other people’s lives by passing them,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
Sebree wrote three sentences: “I ran from the police because I was scared of getting arrested and I panicked. I didn’t want to serve jail time. I should have pulled over, end of story,” the affidavit alleged.
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