Sallisaw police captain rams vehicle head-on, stops car from hitting festival crowd

A Sallisaw, Oklahoma police captain rammed a suspect's vehicle in a chase Saturday, stopping the car from plowing into a crowd of people at a festival, the police chief reported Sunday.

Capt. John Weber, Vice President of the Oklahoma Fraternal Order of Police, is being hailed as a hero.

On a weekend when seven people died in Brownsville, Texas where a motorist struck pedestrians Sunday, and a mass shooting was reported in Allen, Texas, in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, any mass casualties were avoided, Police Chief Terry Franklin posted on Facebook.

On Saturday, Weber used his patrol vehicle to stop a fleeing suspect in a pursuit from hitting people at the Diamond Daze festival by taking a head-on collision.

The driver of the vehicle was arrested, and a passenger was flown to a Tulsa hospital where he was admitted Saturday.

A high speed chase had been reported on Interstate 40 from Roland to Sallisaw. At one point, the suspect reportedly drove the wrong way on Interstate 40. In Sallisaw, the white vehicle was cut off as it headed toward the local business festival that had a children's bounce house.

Sequoyah County Sheriff Larry Lane Jr. was involved in the pursuit that started about 1 p.m. in the westbound lanes of Interstate 40 east of Roland near the Arkansas and Oklahoma border.

Deputy Steven Edwards reported a white Hyundai Santa Fe was following a tractor-trailer too closely at an unsafe speed. After stopping the white Hyundai, the driver took off. The driver went into Roland and then west to Muldrow at speeds over 100 mph, Edwards reported.

"They were running cars off the road, trying to hit other vehicles," Lane said.

The driver swerved through traffic in Roland , and a Roland police officer joined the pursuit that went into the westbound lanes of I-40 toward Sallisaw going over 100 mph. The driver then crossed the center median of I-40 before reaching Sallisaw and sped in the eastbound lanes, driving on the shoulder to avoid vehicles and going over 100 mph, Edwards wrote in an incident report.

"He went a few miles like that, driving on the shoulder," Lane said.

The driver exited onto U.S. 64 and sped toward Sallisaw, where people had gathered for the downtown Diamond Daze business festival. Hundreds of people were in town for the afternoon.

"There were a lot of people in town in the downtown area, a lot of kids, a bounce house, all kinds of kids' events. It was extremely crowded downtown," Lane said.

Earlier in the day the Diamond Daze half marathon and fun run had taken place in Sallisaw.

There was a bounce house set up with children near the spot that Weber was parked on Oak Street, Lane said.

"They ended up coming into the city limits of Sallisaw. And they came up the exact street the bounce house was on," Lane said. "There were several of us there. I was there and other offices there at the Diamond Daze."

Weber blocked the road and the driver accelerated toward him. As the speeding Hyundai approached Weber and officer Wesley McGuirt who were positioned in a vehicle to protect the crowd, the driver hit speeds over 60 mph, Lane said.

"I'm estimating 60 to 70 mph when he hit Weber on a little city street. So he would have traveled that next block and gotten to the bounce house where all the kids were in just a few seconds he would have hit them," Lane said.

In a Facebook post Sunday, Chief Franklin stated that Weber and McGuirt were working at the Diamond Daze festival Saturday when they were notified that "a police pursuit was coming toward Sallisaw."

"The suspect vehicle was traveling at a very high rate of speed. The suspect vehicle ended up traveling north on Oak Street toward the Diamond Daze event," Franklin wrote on Facebook.

"Captain Weber and Officer McGuirt were the last line of defense before the suspect vehicle would have entered the Diamond Daze event area," Franklin wrote

Weber, "decided that they didn’t have any other choices beside disabling the suspect vehicle. By driving straight into it head-on in which he did stopping the suspect vehicle. Preventing it from entering the event which would have caused massive casualties."

"As chief of police I am beyond proud of these two officer's for the quick response and action that they took. I personally know that it wouldn’t have mattered what officers with this department that were put in that situation they would have reacted the same way as Captain Weber and Officer McGuirt."

On the Oklahoma Fraternal Order of Police Facebook page was more praise for Weber.

"The word hero sometimes is lost on folks. Today, Sallisaw Police Captain, John Weber, performed a life-saving, heroic act all while completely placing his own life in jeopardy. During Diamond Daze in Sallisaw today, three individuals led police on a pursuit that ultimately headed toward the area of the festival where hundreds of kids were enjoying themselves in and around the bounce house area. Within a block of the festival, Captain Weber placed himself in danger by using his police vehicle to stop these lunatics who were wreaking havoc on this community," the Fraternal Order of Police post reads.

Weber suffered a broken wrist. Officer McGuirt suffered just cuts and bruises and was hit by the airbag.

Carlten Rucker, 33, of Plantation, Florida, the driver, was arrested on complaints of felony eluding of a police officer causing great bodily harm, aggravated assault on a police officer, and transporting an open bottle of liquor.

The report taken by the sheriff's deputy states a bottle of Cognac liquor was opened and a small bag of green, leafy substance was in the car.

Shawn Hyman, 34, a passenger in the front seat of the car driven by Rucker, was taken by ambulance to a Sallisaw hospital where he was flown by helicopter to a Tulsa hospital.

Courtney Walker, 36, a passenger in the backseat, was arrested on possession of medical marijuana without a license and receiving or possessing stolen property. He refused treatment for injuries at the scene.

In the vehicle was a stolen Arkansas license plate from Fayetteville. A woman's purse and an empty wallet were both found in the vehicle.

Weber will take time off from duty to heal from the broken wrist," Lane said.

Lane said he was only a few feet away from the vehicle before it hit Weber's.

"I was few feet from the wreck and as soon as he got out of the vehicle I was making sure he was okay and he was holding his left wrist, so that's probably the one that is fractured. I haven't talked to him personally," Lane said Sunday afternoon. "I texted him and told him good job after he left."

Law officers from surrounding agencies were involved in the pursuit, Lane said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Oklahoma police captain hailed as hero