Fleeing biker kills HP officer - Gets life (Oklahoma)

[mangell6]

(Please note that the "Patrol Car" was actually an SUV)

http://www.ksbitv.com/home/5379856.html

Grider Found Guilty, Gets Life




Friday, January 26, 2007; Posted: 7:25 p.m.(CDT)

An Oklahoma County jury has found Kyle Wayne Grider guilty of murder in the second degree and guilty of aggravated alluding an officer. Grider has been sentenced to life in prison, plus five years.

Grider has been on trial this week for his role in the October 2005 death of Oklahoma City Police Sergeant Jonathan Dragus.

Dragus died after his patrol car spun out of control and wrecked near the intersection of Northwest Expressway and Penn. Dragus and other officers were in a high speed pursuit of Grider at the time of the accident.

Jurors spent a week hearing testimony in the case. Friday afternoon the final witness was called and both sides presented their closing arguments. From there the case was handed over to a jury.

The jury began deliberation around 4:15 p.m., it was just before 7:00 p.m. when they sent a note to Judge Black saying they had reached a verdict.

Scott Rowland, with the district attorney's office, says, "This has been kind of an arguous trial. It's in the fifth day, which is not terribly long, but it's longer than 90% of the trial's in the county here."

One of the final testimonies included autopsy photos of Sergeant Dragus. The pictures were shown to the entire courtroom, which resulted in loud sobs from the family and friends of Sergeant Dragus.

The jury returned to the courtroom and the judge announced that the jury had found Grider guilty of murder in the second degree and guilty of aggravated alluding an officer. They also recommended Grider get the maximum sentence for both crimes, and he a $5,000 fine.

At the announcement of the verdict, Kyle Grider's family burst into tears and had to be escorted from the courtroom. Grider showed little emotion, and was escorted back to the Oklahoma County Jail.

Rowland says, "Nobody should be happy with the outcome. We should be happy justice was done."

He went on to say that no one can be happy because Sergeant Dragus still died, and that his family will still have to live their lives without the loving father and husband that Jon Dragus was.

After Grider was escorted out of the courtroom, Chief of Police Bill Citty approached the jury and thanked them for what they had done.

He told them that police officers are public servants who serve them, but today they served the Oklahoma City Police Department.

Sergeant Kelly Dragus, the widow of Sergeant Jonathan Dragus, also thanked the jury. She told them that she'll never get her husband back, but that this was a step.

The judge allowed the jury to speak. One juror stood and addressed Kelly Dragus. The juror cried and said they were all sorry for her family's loss.

One juror also asked what he should do to make a change in the pursuit policy. The judge allowed Chief Citty to explain some of the changes to the pursuit policy that have taken place since Sergeant Dragus' death.

Grider will be back in court on February 9, for formal sentencing.

[bobsmith]

Just read about it.

A load of bollocks really. Murder in the second degree means that the person committing murder has to have the intent to kill.

Now.... The pig hit a truck while in a high speed chase following the biker I understand. How did they decide that the biker intended to kill the police officer who died hitting the truck? Perhaps the biker "willed" the truck to get in the way of the police officer killing him?

right.......

That's what you get when you have idiots for your lawyers...

[Deano]

I deleted my original message cause I don't know all the facts...but on the face of it...what a crock of shit.

If a thief jumped from a rooftop to another, and a cop followed and didn't make the jump and died - who's fault is it ?

FFS - trying to chase a bike in an SUV ? Get real - No offence to the dead cop's family but Darwin's theory springs to mind.

Only in America.

[98tls]

That is such bullshit................if an ambo officer dies whilst trying to save a dying persons life if the person survives are they responsible for the ambos death.............

[oldrider]

So he gets "life" in jail plus five years!

Doesn't that just sound so ridiculous.

After he dies, he stays on another five years getting up the nose of all concerned.

The world is full of PC wankers!

John.

[bobsmith]

It seems that he didn't hit a truck but rather tried to avoid a truck and hit a pole. Perhaps the biker put the pole there? Some more info:

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp...nav=menu99_2_3
http://www.policespecial.com/intheli...gus/Dragus.htm

What is interesting is the discussion of "felony murder" law at the bottom of this page though... I think Oklahoma is out from my future destinations... Interesting what one of the guys say, "Say you knock over a conveniance store and the clerk drops dead of a heart attack. You are guilty of murder, just as if you whacked him or her"
right...... http://www.okctalk.com/current-event...line-duty.html

[Postie]

so why wasn't the ute driver charged with something for pulling out in front of the cop in pursuit, surely the lights and siren would have been on, yet he failed to look out of the cop.

It is a shame the cop died and left a family behind, but he was not murdered, he died doing his job... badly.

The guy who got the life sentence plus 5 years has been royally fucked, drug dealers and drug manufactures who actually do kill people and wreck thousands of lives get far less then that, and they are intentionally doing what they do.

I'm not defending the fella who stole the motorbike, he should get a jail sentence, but one that fits his crime.

[Babelfish]

Two words: farking yanks. In fact its worse....Oklahoma yanks...never did like that musical...in fact, the arse that wrote that musical should be put away for life too...and did they get the truck driver for obstructing police, or is that the kids fault too?

That said, it wont be too long before the Greens present another bill to have similar laws introduced here...it seems the meek have inherited the earth and logic is the real loser at the end of the day

[bobsmith]

so why wasn't the ute driver charged with something for pulling out in front of the cop in pursuit, surely the lights and siren would have been on, yet he failed to look out of the cop.

As I understand, he didn't stop (the pick up truck driver) and ran away from the scene too. (Isn't that a felony? shouldn't he be charged with murder?) But later turned himself in and talked to the police. [edit] - I just read it again and it says that the truck driver was "found" and cooperating with police I suppose they said you cooperate or we'll charge YOU.

I suppose they already had their mind set on who they wanted to prosecute. Hmmm the latest episodes of Boston Legal (season 3) comes to mind....

[Roj]

As I understand, he didn't stop (the pick up truck driver) and ran away from the scene too. (Isn't that a felony? shouldn't he be charged with murder?) But later turned himself in and talked to the police. [edit] - I just read it again and it says that the truck driver was "found" and cooperating with police I suppose they said you cooperate or we'll charge YOU.

I suppose they already had their mind set on who they wanted to prosecute. Hmmm the latest episodes of Boston Legal (season 3) comes to mind....

Bloody crazy, as had been said a crime was committed by Girder and he should not have tried to escape, but there is no way he caused the death, but I would imagine he possibly had previous criminal convictions which may be why he fled..., imagine if you cut somebody off and they started chasing you then killed themselves, better not try this in Oklahoma

[cmk0731]

Bloody crazy, as had been said a crime was committed by Girder and he should not have tried to escape, but there is no way he caused the death, but I would imagine he possibly had previous criminal convictions which may be why he fled..., imagine if you cut somebody off and they started chasing you then killed themselves, better not try this in Oklahoma

wow, no one in this thread has the facts straight. the officer was not a Highway Patrol officer, nor was he in an SUV, he was an oklahoma city police officer in a patrol car. The defendant, age 22, was on a stolen motorcyle and had a 16 year old girl on the back. He was high on meth. Sgt. Dragus was attempting to pull him over because he saw the stolen motorcyle on the "hot sheet" that police use to identify stolen cars. the defendant took off, driving wrecklessly through residential neighborhoods. he stopped to let the 16 year old girl off the back, and eventually ended up on a divided highway that goes through the city and has stoplights. he was going in excess of 120 mph,(in a 45 mph speed zone) running red lights along the way. the pickup driver saw the motorcyle zoom by just before his light turned green, but did not see the police cars in pursuit and started to pull out. Sgt. Dragus tried to avoid him, and in the process hit the median of the divided highway.

The defendant wrecked the stolen motorcyle about a mile down the road and took off on foot. He was at large for over 24 hours. During that 24 hours, he went to a few different peoples' houses, took a nap and then continued to smoke meth.

It's not just in oklahoma that a person can be charged with 2nd degree murder if a death is caused during the commission of a felony. It is a FEDERAL LAW.

Side note, it turns out that Mr. Kyle Wayne Grider was in the middle of a drug ring. After Grider's arrest, approximately 20 more arrests were made of his acquaintences, and so far, 12 of them have been sentenced to federal prison.

[cmk0731]

Just read about it.

A load of bollocks really. Murder in the second degree means that the person committing murder has to have the intent to kill.

Now.... The pig hit a truck while in a high speed chase following the biker I understand. How did they decide that the biker intended to kill the police officer who died hitting the truck? Perhaps the biker "willed" the truck to get in the way of the police officer killing him?

right.......

That's what you get when you have idiots for your lawyers...

and by the way, you are wrong, sir. Murder in the 2nd degree does not have to have intent. Murder in the first degree does.

The felony murder rule is a legal doctrine current in some common law countries that broadens the crime of murder in two ways. First, when a victim dies accidentally or without specific intent in the course of an applicable felony, it increases what might have been manslaughter (or even a simple tort) to murder. Second, it makes any participant in such a felony criminally responsible for any deaths that occur during or in furtherance of that felony. While there is some debate about the original scope of the rule, modern interpretations typically require that the felony be an obviously dangerous one, or one committed in an obviously dangerous manner. For this reason, the felony murder rule is often justified by its supporters as a means of deterring dangerous felonies

[James Deuce]

Must've been a slow day for that there Okie.

cmk, you need to go for a ride, man!

[mowgli]

so why wasn't the ute driver charged with something for pulling out in front of the cop in pursuit, surely the lights and siren would have been on, yet he failed to look out of the cop.

Probably because the cop car was approaching so fast that he couldn't reasonably have been expected to avoid it. There was a case up near Kumeu while I was stationed at Whenuapai. A guy pulled out from a side road and got T-boned by a car coming along the road. Police measured skids and determined that the guy going straight was going so fast that when the other guy pulled out he wasn't even in view as he was obscured by a bend. It was reasonable for him to pull out when he did and so the other guy, going straight, got charged.

[scumdog]

Just read about it.

A load of bollocks really. Murder in the second degree means that the person committing murder has to have the intent to kill.

Now.... The pig hit a truck while in a high speed chase following the biker I understand. How did they decide that the biker intended to kill the police officer who died hitting the truck? Perhaps the biker "willed" the truck to get in the way of the police officer killing him?

right.......

That's what you get when you have idiots for your lawyers...

Thems the rules over there - and the dude on the bike would have known there was a chance of this outcome.

Bad luck to be him.

Oh yes, runners are fun.........