Moments After McVeigh’s Arrest Shown On Video

By Chris Wright, News On 6

UNDATED, OK -- Video taken just after Timothy McVeigh's arrest was finally released more than 13 years later.

The video is from a highway trooper's dashboard camera only 75 minutes after the Oklahoma City bombing.

You never actually see McVeigh in the video, but it does offer a glimpse into what he saw only a few minutes after his capture.

April 19th, 1995 produced many heart-wrenching and indelible images.

The video was not one of them.

The video, taken minutes after Timothy McVeigh's arrest that day, has not been released until now.

Oklahoma Highway patrolmen Charles Hanger had just pulled McVeigh over on I-35 in Noble County. His car did not have a license plate.

Hanger spoke to the News On 6 about the arrest in 2001.

"When I stopped him, it was like any other traffic stop. He pulled over on the shoulder and stopped. I exited my vehicle and he got out of his," said Trooper Hanger.

McVeigh was already in the patrol car when Hanger started rolling. The trooper found a loaded, concealed Glock in the car, and took McVeigh to the Noble County jail. He had no idea he had just arrested a mass murderer.

Two days later, right before he was set to be released, authorities connected McVeigh to the bombing.

"Every law enforcement officer faces some kind of danger. Sometimes it's known, sometimes it's unknown, everyday. But we don't consider ourselves heroes," said Trooper Hanger.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial disagrees. The organization got the video from the FBI, and says it shows Hanger making an ordinary traffic stop under extraordinary circumstances.

"He's searching yellow Mercury looking for different pieces of evidence, having no clue that the person sitting in his front seat has just killed 168 people killed in downtown Oklahoma City," said Kari Watkins of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

Watkins says while the video is eerie, it is an important piece of Oklahoma's darkest day.

"It doesn't bring back the 168 lives, it doesn't bring back the pain and agony the survivors feel, or the rescue workers lived through, but I think it's one more element of telling the story," said Watkins.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial says the video was not released until now because it was used as evidence in McVeigh's trial.

The organization plans on using it in a documentary it is making about the arrest.

The National Memorial released a copy of the video Saturday.