Man Driving U-Haul Leads Police On Chase From Norman To OKC

News 9 has video of a wild chase from Norman to Northwest Oklahoma City that involved a speeding U-Haul truck and a driver who refused to give up. 

Oklahoma City police were notified by Norman police that Damian Dean, 33, was headed their way on I-235 near downtown early Sunday morning. 

“A suspect from a domestic assault was the driver of that suspect vehicle,” said Sgt. Dillon Quirk, Oklahoma City Police Department.  

Dean was behind the wheel of a U-Haul truck and reportedly suicidal. The wanted driver turned off the interstate and briefly stopped at an intersection on the northwest side of the city. An officer pulled up behind Dean and tried to convince the man to give up. 

Officer: 

“Come back here and talk to me.” 

Dean: 

“I can’t.” 

Officer: 

“I need you to talk to me.” 

Dean: 

“I can’t sir.” 

Despite the officer telling the driver he would get him help, Dean took off. Police said Dean's erratic driving was putting other drivers at risk, so the department’s AirOne chopper was called in to take over. 

“AirOne had arrived to assist, the ground unit was terminated,” said Quirk. “And stop sticks were utilized to disable the suspect’s vehicle.” 

That was when Dean bailed from the moving truck. As the suspect ran from police, he lost a shoe and wound up on the front porch of a man he knew. AirOne followed the pursuit suspect to the area of Northwest 50th and Military Avenue. Police said Dean was holding a knife to his neck. 

The body camera video showed us the resident opened the door and Dean went inside. Officers had to kick the door in to get to Dean. 

“Were able to take that driver into custody after a short use of force,” said Quirk. “A taser was deployed. The suspect still had a knife at that point.” 

Dean was taken to the hospital to have the taser probe removed and then he was booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center.