Former OHP Trooper Arrested Outside Oologah Bar On Multiple Complaints

A Rogers County deputy arrested a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper outside a bar in Oologah early Thursday morning on several complaints.

The deputy booked Eric Pitner, 35, into the Rogers County Jail on complaints of assault and battery on a peace officer, resisting arrest and being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle under the influence.

In his arrest report, the deputy says the incident began when a bartender at the Ironhorse Saloon on Highway 169 in Oologah called the Rogers County Sheriff's Office to ask for an escort to her car. She said there was a man waiting in the parking lot and she believed he was stalking her.

The deputy discovered a red Dodge Challenger in the parking lot with the driver-side door open and the engine running with Pitner slumped over the steering wheel.

The deputy wrote that he was struggling to awaken Pitner when the man "shot out of the car." As the deputy put him a choke hold he felt Pitner trying to grab for the deputy's gun, so the deputy performed "a take down."

Pitner eventually lost consciousness because of the choke hold and the deputy put him cuffs and called for back-up. While looking through Pitner's wallet to try to identify him, the deputy wrote, he found Pitner's driver license as well as an Oklahoma Peace Officers Certification car and an Oklahoma Highway Patrol commission card that identified him as a state trooper.

News On 6 has learned that Pitner, who lives in Bartlesville, became a trooper on January 1, 2007 and was assigned to Troop L in Vinita.

While attending training in Oklahoma City last year he went to a bar in his patrol car and was picked up by Oklahoma City police for an alcohol-related complaint. He resigned from the OHP on July 11, 2013.