Police Officer Fed Up With Repeat Offender

A Tulsa Police officer is fed up with a repeat offender who keeps getting arrested, getting out of prison early and committing new crimes.  The News On 6's crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports the officer has kept quiet for nine years, but says he must now speak out about this revolving door justice.

When you hear the story, it's so outrageous, you think, how could it be true?  But, it is and it makes you realize, if the system won't do the right thing for a police officer, what does that mean for the rest of us?

Officer Tim O'Keefe has had a busy career at Tulsa Police Department, but it all changed in 1999 when he had to fight a suspect, who was high on PCP, who stepped on and crushed Officer O'Keefe's neck.

"I've been in a lot of fights down here,  never been able not to finish a fight. Third time I tried to get up, that was it, like an electrical charge down my spinal column, nothing working, nothing functioning, I'm done," said Tulsa Police Officer Tim O'Keefe.

O'Keefe needed two major spinal surgeries, where they first shaved bones off his pelvis to replace his destroyed discs, then added titanium pins to his spine and voicebox.  He had to learn to walk again and spent much of the following four years on extended leave.
   

Right after the attack, the suspect, Marcus Taylor, was let out of jail and was arrested for drugs.

Five months after the attack, he got a five-year sentence for the attack, but was released just 90 days later and the revolving door began.

The same month he was released, Taylor was arrested on warants.

A month later, he was out, high on PCP, fighting with officers and was arrested for drugs.

Three months after that, he was sent back to prison and was supposed to stay there until 2007.  But, in 2004, he was released and arrested for drugs and guns and sent back to prison where he was supposed to stay until 2009.

But, in January  of 2007, he was released and arrested for assault.  Marcus Taylor stayed in prison less than a year and got released in December of 2007.

A month later, he was arrested on more warrants.  But, was out again last month, high on PCP and arrested for exposing himself at a Tulsa apartment complex.
       

O'Keefe has never once been notified when Taylor was released, as victims are supposed to be and has finally had enough.

"I kept quiet, thought it's part of the system, part of the game, what I signed up for, but to see this on and on, see him committing more crimes, put him in jail again and again and again. There's got to be a stop to it," said Tulsa Police Officer Tim O'Keefe.

Find more stories on NewsOn6.com's Local News page.