Tulsa Police Assist Claremore Police In Drug-Related Arrests

A Tulsa Police Special Operations Team was called out to assist Claremore Police with the arrest of two men from Tennessee hiding inside a Claremore motel early Tuesday.

Claremore Police say the incident started Monday afternoon when officers discovered a mobile meth lab in a stolen car in a Walmart parking lot. Witnesses told police two men and two women had been in the car. 

Police found the women, Jennie Runions, 30, and Sarah Hawley, 20, of Wabash, Indiana and arrested them near the scene. 

Officers traced the two men to the Elms Motel on state Highway 66.

When Claremore Police went to the motel, the two men, Jayson Handing, 27, and Danny Pirtle, 38, refused to come out. Police determined the Handing and Pirtle were hiding the motel's attic so they asked Tulsa Police for help.

As members of the Special Operations Team were getting ready to enter the motel, the two men surrendered shortly before 1 a.m.

All four were booked into the Rogers County jail on a variety of drug complaints.