Helmer J Blair
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man with a history of drug and property crimes has been jailed on felony charges of threatening to stab another customer at a fast-food restaurant and kicking a police sergeant four days later.
Due to his criminal record, Helmer Jaime Blair, 26, could be given a prison term of four years to life if convicted of pulling a knife on a stranger at a Stillwater restaurant. Blair could be given a 10-year prison term if convicted of assault and battery on a police officer.
Blair has been ordered to appear in court on April 4 when he can seek a preliminary hearing on both charges; he was arrested in the 200 block of S. Duck Street at 11:09 pm on March 3, court records show.
Blair was identified as the restaurant assault suspect after surveillance photographs of him were posted online, Stillwater Police Officer Michael Busenius wrote in an affidavit.
The officer had been sent to a fast-food restaurant on W. McElroy at 9:41 am on Feb. 27, where a customer “told me that he had witnessed someone pull a knife on another patron,” according to his affidavit.
The customer said, “he observed a short white male wearing a black jacket hopping around appearing to be extremely agitated,” the affidavit said.
He said, “the short male ran towards the tall male saying something to the effect of ‘what’s up little boy’ while pulling a knife from his front right jacket pocket,” the affidavit said.
The victim who left immediately said, “he had no clue who the suspect was and had never seen him before and had no clue why the suspect was so aggressive towards him,” the affidavit said.
Four days later at 10:56 pm on March 3, Stillwater Police Sgt. James Hansen said officers were dispatched to the 400 block of W. Maple about “a suspicious person that was asking the reporting party for her keys to her vehicle,” according to his affidavit.
“As I arrived, I observed a white male matching the given description wearing a backpack and peering into car windows in the parking lot of 413 W. Maple. The male looked at me and began running south,” the police sergeant wrote in his affidavit.
After a foot chase, “I told the male to stop running or I was going to tase him. The male threw his backpack to the left and took a few more steps. He then came to an abrupt stop and turned around and said, ‘No.’ As I was now able to see the male’s face, I knew him to be Helmer Blair.
“I tackled Helmer to the ground, and he immediately began resisting and trying to pull away from me. He then began kicking at me and struck me in the lower right leg twice,” the sergeant alleged in his affidavit.
After another officer arrived, Blair continued to resist, the affidavit alleged. “I began striking Helmer in his right rib cage with my closed right fist. I struck him approximately 10 times, but nothing seemed to be taking effect on him. Finally, as other officers were arriving, we were able to secure Helmer’s arms and I placed him in handcuffs,” the sergeant wrote in his affidavit.
Five years ago, “Mr. Blair tested positive for THC, amphetamines, and methamphetamines,” according to a probation violation report by Dee Miller, who was then local administrator of the Department of Corrections Community Sentencing in Stillwater.
Blair had originally been given a 10-year deferred sentence for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in 2015, but after he was terminated from Drug Court in 2016, he was given a seven-year suspended sentence and violated his probation, so he was given a 90-day jail term in 2021, court records show.
Blair was also originally given deferred sentences for second-degree burglary and concealing stolen property in 2014 but violated his probation and then was given suspended sentences and again violated his probation, so he was given two concurrent 90-day jail terms in 2021, court records show.
