By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man has been accused of causing over $7,000 damage to a bar employee’s car by climbing the hood, jumping onto the roof and punching the roof on Sept. 1 — seven weeks after he was ordered into Drug Court for allegedly attempting to elude a sheriff’s deputy on a Ripley highway on June 9 while driving a motorcycle on a suspended license without a security verification form.
If convicted of all of his charges, Devin Charles Bair, 26, could be incarcerated for eight and one-half years and fined $7,000, court records show. Bair remains free on $5,000 bail pending an Oct. 8 court appearance.
In his newer case, Stillwater Police Officer Joshua Gomez was sent at 3:30 am on Sept.1 to a bar on the strip south of Oklahoma State University on a vandalism investigation, according to an affidavit by Stillwater Police Officer Joey Johnsonbaugh that was filed with the felony charge last week.
The employee, who had parked in the alley behind the bar, said “he got off work and began to drive away when he noticed the inside of the roof on his car was dented down. Officer Gomez observed a large dent on the center of the roof of the vehicle, toward the front windshield, small dents on the passenger front door, as well as scratches on the passenger front door and hood,” the affidavit said.
“Suspect, who was later identified as Devin Bair, is seen in the video as a white male, wearing a cutoff shirt and hat, slender build with brown hair. He has tattoos on his right forearm and right shoulder. Devin can be seen punching and kicking the passenger door of (the employee’s) vehicle.
“Devin then climbs onto the hood causing scratches. Proceeds to climb up the windshield and stands on the roof. Devin jumps up and landed flat on his stomach on the roof causing it to dent. Devin slides off the side of the car and slams his fist on the roof multiple times before stumbling away,” the affidavit alleged.
At 11:24 that morning, Officer Johnsonbaugh went back to the bar for a follow-up after the car owner said he found a black iPhone next to his car earlier in the morning and thought it might belong to the suspect, the affidavit said. A dispatcher was able to associate the phone number with Devin Bair, the affidavit alleged. The photo on Bair’s driver’s license number matched the male in the video, the affidavit alleged.
The dispatcher said he knew Bair “and said he is missing the tip of his middle finger on his left hand from a lawn mowing accident,” the affidavit alleged. Bair’s girlfriend showed up in the alley to search the area for his black cell phone, the affidavit alleged. “I asked (her) if Devin was missing the tip of his finger, and she stated yes,” Officer Johnsonbaugh alleged in his affidavit.
When the officer paused the video where the suspect swiped his left hand on the roof of the car, he could see the suspect was missing the tip of his finger on his left hand and observe tattoos on his right arm and shoulder, the affidavit alleged.
A second video shows “Devin throwing a beer and then dropping the cell phone in the exact location (the employee) found it. Devin looks around on the ground for the phone but is unable to find it before walking away,” the affidavit alleged.
The officer contacted Bair at the apartment of Bair’s girlfriend, the affidavit said. Asked where he was that night, Bair said he was at the bar and admitted he was in the alley “because that is where he goes and urinates,” the affidavit alleged. “I asked if he lost his cell phone, and he stated that he did, and his girlfriend went looking for it,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“I showed Devin the still frame picture from the video and asked if that was him. Devin was hesitant to answer. I asked you know what you look like and is that you? Devin still was hesitant. I asked Devin to show me his left hand, which I observed to be missing the tip of his middle finger.
“I asked Devin to lift up his right sleeve, which showed a tattoo that was similar to the one from the video, and the tattoo on his forearm was also similar. I asked Devin again about the picture, and he stated that it was him,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
After Bair was arrested and charged with malicious injury to property of more than $1,000 to the bar employee’s car, the District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to terminate Bair from Drug Court in his earlier June 9 case of attempting to elude, according to court records.
