Brian Scovell
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Kansas man, who admitted robbing a teenager of his vehicle at gunpoint in a Stillwater parking lot at 1:11 pm on Jan. 23 and attempting to elude officers at over 100 mph until he was arrested 12 minutes later on Highway 51, has been given a 15-year prison term in a plea agreement approved in court by District Judge Phillip Corley on July 26.
Brian James Scovel, 31, of Wichita, was also ordered to serve 10 years of probation after he completes his prison sentence, court records show. Due to his criminal record, Scovel could have received two life prison terms for committing his crimes in Payne County after four prior felony convictions in Sedgwick County, Kansas, where he was currently wanted on multiple charges.
In Payne County District Court, Scovel pleaded guilty on July 26 to using a gun to rob a 17-year-old boy of his SUV in the Planet Fitness parking lot at 783 E. Virginia in Stillwater and then attempting to elude Stillwater police while speeding in the victim’s 2007 Saturn Vue, court records show.
The teenager said that the robber, later identified as Scovel, “had a black hoodie pulled over his head and something pulled up over his nose so all he could see of his face was the strip around his eyes,” Stillwater Police Detective John Paul Johnson wrote in an affidavit.
The victim said, “Scovel pointed a handgun at his face and commanded that he get out of the vehicle. The victim said Scovel said to him, ‘Get out of the car or I will kill you.’ The victim got out of the car while Scovel continued to point the gun at him.
“The victim was so scared for his life and wanted to show his compliance, so he told Scovel to take his wallet and phone as well, since they were still in the car. The victim reported that Scovel got in the car and drove it away to the west, which was through the Rib Crib parking lot and out onto Perkins Rd. and then south. This information and the first three letters of the license plate was broadcast to officers.
“At 1:15 pm, K9 Officer Jimmy Knox was in his marked patrol vehicle when he encountered the stolen vehicle at approximately 600 W. 6th in Stillwater,” and attempted a traffic stop but the suspect fled, the affidavit said.
“The suspect drove into oncoming traffic, west in the eastbound lanes, at 6th and Western due to heavy traffic stopped at the four-way signaled intersection,” and continued west at over 100 mph during the pursuit with multiple officers, the affidavit said.
“The suspect continued past 6th and Range at about 105 mph,” driving through a grass median and avoiding stop sticks while continuing westbound in the eastbound lanes against traffic, the affidavit said.
“He then crossed onto the shoulder and drove up the steep embankment where he continued west and hit a private driveway where he went flying in the air. He landed and went back across oncoming traffic and into the center median where he once again hit a culvert, again going airborne.
“As the suspect came across the median back into the westbound lanes and crossed in front of Officer Knox, Officer Knox struck the passenger rear tire and quarter panel of the fleeing vehicle. The fleeing vehicle spun around and came to a stop next to Officer Knox,” where other officers blocked the vehicle and Scovel was arrested at gunpoint, the affidavit said.
The next day, the detective spoke by phone to Scovel’s girlfriend, who said they spent the previous night in a Stillwater motel, but on the morning of Jan. 23 when they argued, “Scovel pulled a gun on her and stuck it in her face. A little later in the day, he demanded she drive him somewhere. She was still scared of him, so she complied. He directed her through town, and they ended up at the Planet Fitness parking lot. He told her she could not leave before he did.
“She said he didn’t say what he was going to do, but she thought he was going to rob someone with the gun. She said he got out of her car and walked up to the victim’s vehicle and robbed the victim of the vehicle at gunpoint. Scovel then drove the vehicle out of the parking lot, and she followed. She said she was scared the whole time but got even more scared when she heard sirens, so she stopped following him at some point,” the affidavit said.
When Scovel was interviewed, “he admitted he was driving a vehicle he knew was stolen but denied stealing it or possessing or pointing a gun at anyone. He said someone named ‘Gaige,’ who he knew from Wichita, stole the car and Scovel only got in and drove it just before he got onto Perkins Road,” the affidavit said.
“This directly contradicts what the victim actually saw and (Scovel’s girlfriend) admitted. When I confronted him with video and witness evidence, he persisted in his story until he learned that (his girlfriend) could be implicated in the crime. He then said if I would let him call (his girlfriend) and make her not part of this, then he would tell me the truth, indicating that what he had told me was a lie.
“I did not make any deals with him, but told him that once we were done, he could call whoever he wanted. He then said the truth was that ‘Gaige’ stole the car,” the detective wrote in his affidavit.
Scovel “is a registered violence offender, and at the time of this incident was currently wanted for aggravated assault by use of a deadly weapon, criminal threat, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon, domestic battery/knowing or reckless bodily harm to family, and theft of property or services out of Sedgwick County, Kansas, with a $100,000 bond,” the detective wrote in his affidavit.
According to court records, Scovel had previously been convicted in Sedgwick County, Kansas, of:
* fleeing or attempting to elude an officer and aggravated battery for which he was sentenced to five months in 2020;
* possession of marijuana and a depressant, both with intent to distribute, for which he was sentenced to 60 months in 2015;
* aggravated assault for which he was sentenced to 16 months in 2013;
* forgery for which he was sentenced to 17 months in 2013.
