Dennis Chasteen
(DOC file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Creek County man — on five years’ probation for drunk driving in Pawnee County this year — has been jailed on $25,000 bail pending his arraignment Tuesday on a felony charge of drunk driving in Payne County on Highway 51 near Battle Ridge Road, where his Honda crashed through the guardrail, according to court records.
Due to his multiple prior felonies, Dennis Waif Chasteen, 45, of Bristow, could be imprisoned for three years to life if convicted, court records show.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Derek Fry was sent at 4:45 am on Aug. 12 to Highway 51 near Battle Ridge Road where a Honda crashed through the guardrail on the north side of the road, according to his affidavit.
The trooper was met on the scene by a Payne County sheriff’s deputy, who said Chasteen was visibly impaired, smelled strongly of alcohol and transported by emergency medical service to the Stillwater Medical Center emergency room, his affidavit alleged.
The trooper traveled to the ER to talk to Chasteen, who said “he had been alone in the vehicle and had been driving when he pulled over to rest,” the affidavit alleged.
When the trooper told Chasteen that he had crashed his Honda, “Chasteen explained he had not meant to,” the affidavit alleged.
Asked if he had been drinking, Chasteen said “yes, he had earlier the day before the crash,” the affidavit alleged.
Chasteen had a minor head injury that required stitches and was lying flat in the hospital bed, the affidavit said.
“Chasteen had very red and watery eyes, a very strong odor of alcohol, slurred speech, and confused speech,” the affidavit alleged.
After Chasteen was arrested at 6:25 am, “The medical staff at the ER cleared Chasteen fit for incarceration and free from injury,” the affidavit said.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Chasteen had been released from prison in September of 2021, after serving about four years of three concurrent 15-year prison terms for domestic violence in 2013, aggravated assault and battery in 2014, and drunk driving in 2014, all in Creek County.
DOC records show that Chasteen had also been previously convicted in Creek County of:
* two counts of assault and battery on a police officer in 2010, for which he was given two concurrent three-year prison terms of which he served one year that he discharged in 2013;
* being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2005 and assault and/or battery with a dangerous weapon in 2004, for which he was given two concurrent five-year prison terms of which he served two years that he discharged in 2009;
* assault and battery on a police officer in 2000, drunk driving in 2000, and drunk driving in 2002, for which he was given three concurrent five-year prison terms of which he served two years that he discharged in 2007;
* two counts of assault and/or battery with a dangerous weapon in 1995 for which he was given two concurrent two and one-half years of probation.
