By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man has been given an eight-year prison term for dragging Game Warden Emily Long on the road and drunk driving on the Saturday after Thanksgiving of 2020 — while he was on the probationary part of a manslaughter sentence for causing the deaths of two of his passengers by drunk driving northwest of Cushing in 2011.
John Tyler Slavens, 29, who has been jailed since Nov. 28, 2020, pleaded guilty last week to those felony charges along with misdemeanor counts of ramming the game warden’s vehicle, driving on a revoked license, and running from Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Anthony Harper, for which he was given jail terms concurrent to his prison sentence.
As part of a plea bargain with the prosecution, Slavens was also ordered to pay $1,317 restitution by District Judge Phillip Corley, who revoked the remaining seven years and four months of his probation for first-degree manslaughter to a concurrent prison term.
Slavens’ latest run-in with the law came after the trooper stopped a red 2014 Chevrolet Cruze in the area of SH 51 and SH 108 south at 9:09 pm on Nov. 28, 2020, that was being driven by Slavens’ wife, Aubrey, who smelled of alcohol and admitted to having a beer before leaving Glenpool, Okla., an affidavit said.
Asked who was with her in the vehicle, “She replied that it was her husband, John Slavens,” the affidavit said. Asked if he had been drinking, “she stated in the affirmative, but did not know how much,” the trooper’s affidavit said.
After a roadside sobriety test, Slavens’ wife was arrested at 9:26 pm and charged with aggravated drunk driving, a misdemeanor to which she pleaded guilty on March 8, 2021, when she was placed on 18 months’ probation under a deferred sentence, court records show.
When his wife called out to Slavens, he “responded in an aggressive manner,” toward the trooper, the affidavit said. Slavens “appeared to be intoxicated as well and emotional,” the affidavit said. After a standoff, John Slavens “returned to the vehicle and sped away,” the affidavit said.
About 40 minutes later, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Game Warden Emily Long “located a vehicle that had fled the scene of an OHP traffic stop, at the Country C Convenience Store at Highway 51 and Prairie Road at approximately 10:05 pm,” east of Stillwater at a gas pump, her affidavit said.
“When Slavens saw me, Slavens ran back to the vehicle and got into the driver seat,” Long wrote in her affidavit. Slavens tried to prevent the game warden from opening the door to his car, her affidavit said. “At this time, some civilians came to the driver door and helped Long open the door,” the affidavit said.
When the game warden tried to pull him out of the car, “Slavens turned the ignition on and put the car in drive while Long was giving Slavens verbal commands to stop — while Long was partially inside of the vehicle at the driver’s door. Slavens then accelerated and began dragging Long for approximately five feet and rammed Long’s marked unit with the car.
“Long reached for the ignition and turned the vehicle off and threw the keys into the parking lot. Long instructed Slavens to get out of the vehicle and Slavens refused,” the affidavit said. After repeated commands while the game warden was pulling on Slavens’ left arm, he finally exited and complied, the affidavit said. The game warden instructed Slavens to lie on the ground and he was arrested, the affidavit said.
According to court records, in 2013 when Slavens admitted that his drunk driving northwest of Cushing had caused the deaths of two of his passengers, he was ordered to enroll in the Payne County Drug Court program under a 10-year deferred sentence.
Slavens was 19 and living in Perkins when he lost control of his pickup truck on 68th Street, just west of the intersection with Mt. Vernon Road, and ultimately struck a tree — resulting in the deaths of two of his six passengers, Clarence K. Slavens, 21, of Perkins, and Kimberly J. Davidson, 38, of Cushing, on Oct. 27, 2011, authorities said.
Garry McKinnis, who was then Payne County undersheriff and the first officer on scene, described it as traumatic — occurring in a residential driveway. Four other passengers, Thomas A. Lumpkin, 18, of Perkins; Brian P. Pineda, 15, of Cushing; Angelo J. Pineda, 9, of Cushing, and Johnathon P. Griffith, 16, of Cushing, were treated for their injuries at a Cushing hospital, authorities said.
A year after Slavens finished the Payne County Drug Court program, he was charged with drunk driving in Stillwater on Aug. 7, 2015; when he pleaded guilty to that misdemeanor DUI charge three months later, Slavens’ deferred sentence for two counts of first-degree manslaughter was changed to a five-year prison term followed by 10 years of probation by Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler, who ordered that he be given substance abuse treatment in prison, from which he was released on May 16, 2019, court records show.
