OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Three people are in custody after a traffic stop turned into a short chase Thursday morning. Police on scene at the time said a gun also fired during a struggle with a suspect.
The incident started when police tried to pull over a vehicle near SW 29th Street and Miller Avenue. From there, things went south when the driver wouldn’t comply and decided to run away, forcing officers to give chase.
“Our officer chased him a short distance and was able to contact him,” Sgt. Rob Robertson with the Oklahoma City Police Department said on scene. “They went to the ground in a struggle during the struggle, the suspect produced a handgun which went off during the struggle.”
Fortunately, nobody was hit by that gunfire. Officers told KFOR later Thursday morning that the gun going off was not intentional, but it was a scary situation nonetheless for an Oklahoma City police officer. That suspect was taken into custody, but as that was happening, the situation was far from over.
“A female passenger and a male passenger were still in the vehicle,” Robertson said. “The female passenger got into the driver’s seat and took off.”
So, officers jumped into action again. They found the two suspects just west of where the traffic stop originally happened.
“Both taken into custody. That vehicle was recovered,” Robertson said. “Nobody has sustained any any sort of life-threatening injuries.”
D. Logan Hathaway, 34, Robin Palma, 57 and Alfonso Rodriguez, 46 were the suspects taken into custody. It’s unclear why the driver didn’t comply at the time and initially tried to run. Robertson said on scene that he didn’t believe at the time that the car was stolen, but an investigation is underway.
Officers were not sure what charges the suspects would be facing. There were no other suspects in the vehicle.
