Tulsa Police: Car Goes Airborne, Crashes Into Apartment Building Killing Driver

By Dan Bewley and NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- A Tulsa man is dead after crashing his car into a south Tulsa apartment building early Thursday morning.

Tulsa Police say they first saw 28-year-old Larry Bible Jr. driving a Ford Mustang Cobra northbound on Memorial at 68th Street at a high rate of speed. They began a pursuit but lost sight of the vehicle.

They say he drove off the road near the TGIFriday's and lost control of his car.

"The car actually vaulted for quite a distance," said Captain Brett Bailey of the Tulsa Police Department.

"Witnesses are saying that they believe he was doing in excess... between 100 and 120 miles an hour."

He was the son of former Glenpool Police Chief Larry Bible. By Thursday morning at 9:30, 27 friends had left farewell messages on his Facebook page.

Police say the car left Memorial going north and drove between the poles supporting the Eton Square Six Cinema sign. They say dirt and sod stuck to the theater marquee when Bible's car drove underneath.

The Mustang then hit a dirt embankment and went airborne for about 90 feet into the Eton Square apartment complex. 

Officers say the car cleared an 8-foot fence before hitting the building about 20 feet off the ground, flipping backwards and knocking a gaping hole in the wall of an apartment on the ground floor.  The car came to rest upside down.

A woman who was asleep inside the apartment at the time only injured her arm.

A friend of Bible was saddened by the news.

Bible was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say he was driving with a suspended license because of a DUI and they say alcohol was a factor in the crash.  Records show Bible had a history of alcohol and drug offenses going back to at least 2002.

"Yeah this ain't, this ain't something you're supposed to wake up and see and have to hear about your friends. The guy would give his shirt off his back for anybody he knew," said James Thompson.  

"Some play and live hard, and when you do, you got a bad situation happen," Thompson said. "But when you want to play you just got to know the right time, I guess."

Thompson says despite Bible's troubles with alcohol and drugs, Bible was a good guy who'll be fondly remembered.

"Larry was a guy that always put a smile on your face. He'd always have something nice to say and if you ever needed something Larry would take care of you," said James Thompson, a good friend of Bible's.