By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of an ex-convict from Lincoln County, who failed to appear in court earlier this week on charges of attempting to elude Payne County authorities at over 100 mph, driving the wrong way on Highway 51 in a stolen truck, ramming a trooper’s patrol car, and being a felon in possession of two loaded pistols.
Steve Alan McAnally Jr., 36, of Prague, who got out of prison in June of 2018, had been released from the Payne County Jail on $20,000 bond on his charges. When he did not appear in court for arraignment on Tuesday, a warrant was issued for his re-arrest by a Payne County judge, court records show.
McAnally had been arrested at 7:50 p.m. on Sept. 23 after the truck he was driving was disabled from stop sticks, according to an affidavit by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Kelton Hayes.
McAnally was driving a stolen truck that passed multiple vehicles on the outside shoulder on Interstate 35 at over 100 mph, the affidavit alleged. McAnally swerved toward the trooper’s patrol unit and threw a cup with a cloudy liquid out the window that caused a temporary obstruction on the front windshield of the patrol car, the affidavit alleged.
McAnally exited northbound I-35 to eastbound Highway 51 and “began to pass vehicles on the outside shoulder,” the affidavit alleged.
McAnally “crossed the center median and began traveling eastbound in the westbound lane of State Highway 51,” where he drove the wrong way about eight miles into incoming traffic at speeds up to 70 mph, the affidavit alleged.
“Stillwater Police Department had westbound State Highway 51 blocked at Country Club Road to prevent further oncoming traffic,” the affidavit alleged.
McAnally “crossed the center median to avoid the roadblock,” the affidavit alleged. When McAnally entered the eastbound lane of Highway 51, the trooper attempted to disable the truck by ramming it on the passenger side rear quarter panel, the affidavit alleged.
McAnally left the road into a parking lot before re-entering, ramming the patrol car and continuing east on Highway 51 where the trooper again tried to ram it to disable it, the affidavit alleged.
McAnally continued east on Highway 51 before turning south onto Country Club Road where Stillwater police deployed a successful stop stick attempt at the intersection, the affidavit alleged. McAnally “began passing vehicles on the left in a no-passing zone,” before being disabled from stop sticks, the affidavit alleged.
According to the state Department of Corrections, McAnally had previously been convicted of:
* drug possession in Lincoln County in 2004 for which he was originally given probation that he violated, after which in 2005 he was given a 10-year prison term, with the balance suspended on his completion of the Drug Offender Work Camp;
* possessing a stolen vehicle, using a weapon in a felony, and illegally using a police radio in Pottawatomie County in 2010, for which he was given three concurrent 10-year prison terms of which he served about three years;
* methamphetamine possession in Lincoln County in 2015 for which he was given in 2016 a seven-year prison term of which he served two years and two months before his release in June of 2018.
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