10/15/2019
This was posted by an Attorney friend Brecken Wagner (no relation) who practices law in McAlester Oklahoma.
This weekend yet another citizen of this county lost his life after a high speed pursuit. Sayven Rowland was only 19 years old and a client of this law firm. His father was just in the office, he was away out of state at the time of his son’s death.
Sayven ran from deputies on a four-wheeler ATV. When he crashed out and the deputies approached, no doubt adrenaline surging through their bodies, one tried to use a non-lethal weapon. However, Sayven was shot dead after the second deputy claimed he was going for a gun. I just had to explain to his father that the likelihood of a thorough investigation was not probable, but at least OSBI had been called in this time to investigate. (In our last incident of a pursuit ending in death, the Highway Patrol was allowed to investigate itself.) I explained that there would be no camera that could tell the story of what happened that day, because the Pittsburg County Sheriff Department does not have either body or dash cameras.
This weekend another man’s life was tragically ended over a suspicion of stolen property (the ATV Sayven was riding). It turns out that the ATV actually wasn’t stolen, so there was no crime (except possibly a misdemeanor traffic violation depending on the manner and location of where the ATV was being driven). In such a short period of time in this County it has become clear that a life is worth less than a suspected stolen ATV or a bottle of vodka. How many more tragedies do we need before we take some action? When are we going to stop these high speed pursuits?
R.I.P. Sayven...