Man Arrested For Stealing Tulsa Police Car Has History Of Running From Officers

Lori Fullbright, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- A man accused of stealing a Tulsa police car and going on a high speed chase is currently on a deferred sentence for running from police in Muskogee.

Officers were called to a domestic involving Steven Cahill Saturday night and realized he had a drug warrant.

2/26/2011 Related Story: Man Arrested After High Speed Chase In Stolen Tulsa Police Car

One officer tried to arrest him, but says Cahill starting fighting. The second officer pulled up, saw the fight, jumped out to help and that's when Cahill broke loose, jumped into the second officer's car and took off.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol picked up the chase on I-244. They pulled him over and, at one point, a trooper shot Cahill in the elbow, but that didn't stop him.

Officers say he kept going, speeding, driving in the wrong lane on Highway 412. That's where Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton encountered the suspect and was nearly hit head-on.

"Very, very dangerous, high rate of speed, going in the opposite lane of traffic," Sheriff Walton said. "OHP did an excellent job of stopping him, had it not been for them, he would've certainly killed someone."

An OHP trooper crashed into the squad car, ending the chase a mile east of 88 highway.

Cahill was taken to the hospital where he was kept for a day before being booked into the Tulsa County jail.

Records show Cahill got a DUI drug arrest in 2009 and was sent to drug court, but after three in-house stints in rehab, was kicked out of the program.

In 2005, he was given a five year deferred sentence for running from officers and going through a road block after officers tried to pull him over for a similar offense. That deferred sentence was set to expire this July.

Records show he was also arrested last month for controlled drugs also.

Police haven't said whether Cahill was under the influence Saturday night.

"You'd certainly think anybody in their right mind wouldn't have done half the stuff this man did," Sheriff Walton said.

Cahill's arrest sheet says he's a disabled veteran. News On 6 called his attorney, but didn't hear back from him.