(Stillwater, Okla.) — A man on probation for possessing marijuana in the Cushing area has been charged with aggravated attempting to elude a Perkins police officer on Highway 33 while allegedly drunk driving on Feb. 1.
Former Cushing resident Kenneth Wade Jasper, 21, of Perkins, was released on a personal recognizance bond by Special District Judge Robert Hert and ordered to return to court on March 7 when he can see a preliminary hearing on both felony counts.
If convicted of the two-count charge, Jasper could be given as much as a 10-year prison term and fined $10,000, court records show.
Perkins Police Officer William Bowen was dispatched at 4:12 p.m. on Feb. 1 to U.S. 177 and S.H. 33 regarding a dark-colored car, possibly a Nissan, “driving recklessly southbound on U.S. 177 from the area of Tractor Supply in Stillwater,” according to his affidavit.
“Dispatch further advised the vehicle had possibly been involved in a hit and run accident,” but the officer was then unable to locate the vehicle, the affidavit said.
However, 26 minutes later while the officer was in a bank parking lot in Perkins, he saw a dark-colored Nissan four-door “traveling northbound on Main Street (U.S. 177 south) at a high rate of speed,” according to his affidavit.
“I was able to catch up to the vehicle at Main Street (U.S. 177 south) and S.H. 33,” and saw that the tag was the same one provided by a dispatcher earlier, the officer alleged in his affidavit.
When the vehicle’s driver failed to signal his intention to turn and proceeded west on Highway 33, the officer activated his emergency overhead lights on his patrol car, but “the vehicle began to accelerate rapidly,” the affidavit alleged.
“Once the vehicle reached 65 mph, I activated my emergency siren; the vehicle continued to accelerate reaching speeds of 90 mph,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“The vehicle was driving west in the outside lane of S.H. 33 and went onto the shoulder and back into his lane of traffic. As we approached the intersection of Perkins Road (U.S. 177 north) and S.H. 33, the vehicle slowed to approximately 70 mph,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“The vehicle traveled west through the intersection in front of southbound traffic, onto the shoulder on the west side of the road, and then back east across all lanes of traffic – nearly striking a Ford F-150 that was in the inside lane traveling south on U.S. 177,” the affidavit alleged.
When the vehicle stopped on the northbound shoulder of U.S. 177 north across from Ampride, “I drew my duty pistol and began giving directions to the driver over the loud speaker of my patrol car,” the Perkins officer alleged in his affidavit.
The driver got out of the vehicle, but could not comply with orders, the affidavit alleged.
Jasper was put in handcuffs and patted down for safety, but told he was not under arrest at the time, the affidavit said.
“Kenneth was very upset and begging me not to do this to him. I asked Kenneth if he had anything to drink; he said a couple, and when I asked what he had to drink, he said vodka,” the Perkins officer alleged in his affidavit.
After Jasper, who had bloodshot watery eyes and smelled of alcohol, allegedly performed poorly on a field sobriety test given him by a Perkins police sergeant, Jasper was arrested for drunk driving, the affidavit said.
During an inventory of Jasper’s vehicle, the sergeant found on the driver’s side floorboard a vodka bottle with a small amount of liquid remaining, the affidavit alleged.
At the Payne County Jail, Jasper was given a breath test by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Coleman Parker that indicated Jasper was intoxicated, the affidavit alleged.
The trooper had been sent at 4:11 p.m. that day to a hit and run collision on U.S. 177, in which the vehicle was described as a dirty black car, an affidavit said.
A woman driving a blue 2014 Honda CRV said “she was southbound on U.S. 177 and was struck by the black car as it passed her at a high rate of speed,” between 44th and 56th on U.S. 177, the trooper wrote in an affidavit.
“I observed damage to the right rear of the vehicle at approximately the height of the bumper and noticed black transfer paint on her vehicle,” which also had damage at the height of an outside mirror that had black transfer paint on it, the trooper wrote in his affidavit.
When the trooper responded to the location of Jasper’s arrest, a black Nissan Altima “was covered in dirt and there was damage to the left front of the vehicle that was consistent with the damage to the CRV. I also noticed that there was damage to the left outside mirror,” the trooper alleged in his affidavit.
After the trooper gave Jasper a breath test for alcohol at the Payne County Jail, the trooper “asked him if he was willing to speak to me about the collision,” according to an affidavit.
“He asked me ‘what collision.’ I told him that he had struck another vehicle on U.S. 177. Jasper stated, ‘I would like to not speak about that,’” the trooper alleged in his affidavit.
According to court records, in December 2014, Jasper had pleaded guilty to marijuana possession as a second offense and drug paraphernalia possession, for which he was placed on five years’ probation under a deferred sentence with an order to spend one weekend in jail, pay $1,550 in fines and assessments as well as the cost of his incarceration, do 100 hours of community service, have a substance abuse evaluation, perform any recommended follow-up and undergo random drug tests.
In that case, Jasper was arrested following a traffic stop by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Nack one-half mile west of Kings Highway on Ninth Street in rural Cushing at 3:13 p.m. on June 8, 2014, court records show.
At the time, Jasper was on two years’ probation under a deferred sentence for misdemeanor possession of marijuana in 2013 in Payne County, court records show.
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