Perkins reserve police officer suspended after fatal shooting

Tuesday, October 1st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) _ Perkins officials have suspended a reserve police officer while the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation looks into the fatal shooting of a fleeing suspect.

OSBI agents met Monday with Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson to discuss preliminary findings about the Saturday shooting involving officer Toby Mason.

Mason, 31, was helping Payne County sheriff's deputies capture a suspect who fled from an oil field near Perry that officials had staked out.

Noble County authorities suspected someone was stealing anhydrous ammonia from storage tanks at the site. The ammonia is used to make methamphetamine.

Deputies watched as four men drove up to the rig. Three of the men were arrested but the fourth, identified as 22-year-old Kenneth W. Bailey, drove away.

Police pursued the vehicle into the Perkins area in Payne County.

Mason and another officer had set up a road block with tire spikes, but Bailey drove around them. As Bailey passed Mason, the officer fired.