Jenks fatality crash last Friday

[Hawkins]

I saw the aftermath of this wreck that night, but have seen very little coverage of it in the news. Only Channel 6 picked it up, from what I can tell.

I think they are having trouble locating the victim's family, thus no name has been released.

Witnesses say the guy was traveling down 96th street at a high rate of speed, seemed confused as he came to the end of the bridge (where it becomes Main Street in Jenks) and simply kept going straight.

The impact was severe, and they may have to raze the structure now that it is unstable.

http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=10489025

With all the development in the works for this area, I'm betting some in Jenks are shaking their heads right about now going, "What are we getting ourselves into?"

[Conan71]

Try this:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090608_11_0_JENKSA181895

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090609_81_A14_JENKSm688646

As of yesterday Jenks officials were saying they were going to repair the lighthouse.

[swake]

With all the development in the works for this area, I'm betting some in Jenks are shaking their heads right about now going, "What are we getting ourselves into?"

What do you mean? It sounds like the guy committed suicide. How exactly does development lead to suicide?

[Hawkins]

What do you mean? It sounds like the guy committed suicide. How exactly does development lead to suicide?

Suicide??

Thats pretty funny.

This fellow was likely drunk, and angry from losing his money (witnesses also stated that the vehicle left the 81st & Riverside Casino), and never knew what happened.

If the Casino and the Riverwalk were not built, I am certain the lighthouse would not have been struck by a vehicle Friday night.

I am in no way saying that any consideration should be given to scaling back any type of development, I'm just saying that with it--the idiots come out of the woodwork.

Jenks better think about a larger police department, for one thing.

They like to think of themselves as a nice community with strong business, and the small-town atmosphere, and the latter is about to be gone forever.

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Thanks for the World links, Conan.

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[joiei]

Suicide??

Thats pretty funny.

This fellow was likely drunk, and angry from losing his money (witnesses also stated that the vehicle left the 81st & Riverside Casino), and never knew what happened.

If the Casino and the Riverwalk were not built, I am certain the lighthouse would not have been struck by a vehicle Friday night.

I am in no way saying that any consideration should be given to scaling back any type of development, I'm just saying that with it--the idiots come out of the woodwork.

Jenks better think about a larger police department, for one thing.

They like to think of themselves as a nice community with strong business, and the small-town atmosphere, and the latter is about to be gone forever.

--

Thanks for the World links, Conan.

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Willis, what you talkn bout. 

A drunk driver is a drunk driver.  I know because I used to drive drunk. 

The size of the police department in Jenks has no effect on this event.

The impending developements in Jenks have no reference to this event.

The Riverwalk has nothing at all to do with this event. 

If the driver came from the casino then they possibly have some legal problems as a result of this event.   

Maybe those eye witnesses might have a problem with not reporting this driver they perceived to be driving  and not reporting said person to the authorities in a timely manner.   

That casino has been here the entire time I have lived in Tulsa, going on 10 years.   How many wrecks like this have happened in that time?  How many times has the lighthouse been plowed into by drunks driving drunk?   I can't think of too many. 

If you have to blame someone then blame the drunk.  Alcohol is cunning, baffling and powerful.   

Maybe if the lighthouse had not been built it would not of been hit by a car and driver that night. 

Lots of suppositions and guesses are happening here. 

[Hawkins]

I hear what you are saying about drunk driving, but I still think this guy was jumping from one hot spot to another.

The 'new' larger Casino building has only been open a few months, and perhaps this fellow thought he was going from there to Louie's or something (a new kiddie bar that has been open about 3 months) out on the corner in front of the Riverwalk.

[Red Arrow]

Speed limit across the bridge is 40 mph and drops to 35 mph near the end of the bridge.  This guy must have been significantly faster than that.  No way the Jenks police could have done anything to stop him if they had been there.

[joiei]

Thinking and knowing for sure is two different things.  One is just guessing, the other is hard evidence. 

[Danny]

what does development have to do with it, that lighthouse has been there for years, way before anything was around there, it has always forked at that location.

[custosnox]

So far, I haven't seen anything that says he was drunk.  As far as we know it could have been mechanical failure (I've had that type, where the accelerator sticks, and you can hit something before you even realize what is going on), or a medical problem. 

Now, with that said, Hawkins does bring up a point that is really unrelated to this (for all intent and purposes) that could be of concern.  With the casino growing, and riverwalk expanding, more people are going to be coming to the area.  With more people there will be more crime (what attracts the good generally attracts the bad to prey on them).  But I degress, since even if the person was drunk, they did not get drunk in Jenks, and with that short distance could not have been stopped no matter how many police the city employeed (unless they have them all setting up roadblocks 24/7 to every entrance into town).

This is a tragedy and we should wait until all the information is in before we form an opinion on it.

[Conan71]

The behavior indicates he was, but until the police have toxicology, nothing is official.  He was, though, "known to the authorities":

http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/casesearch.asp?query=true&srch=0&web=true&db=all&icasetype=&iDATEL=&iDATEH=&iCLOSEDL=&iCLOSEDH=&number=&iLast=colbert&iFirst=jarrell&iMiddle=&iID=&iDOBL=&iDOBH=&SearchType=0&iDCPT=&iDCType=0&iYear=&iNumber=&icitation=

[custosnox]

The behavior indicates he was, but until the police have toxicology, nothing is official.  He was, though, "known to the authorities":

http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/casesearch.asp?query=true&srch=0&web=true&db=all&icasetype=&iDATEL=&iDATEH=&iCLOSEDL=&iCLOSEDH=&number=&iLast=colbert&iFirst=jarrell&iMiddle=&iID=&iDOBL=&iDOBH=&SearchType=0&iDCPT=&iDCType=0&iYear=&iNumber=&icitation=

There deffinatly is a history of not wearing a seatbelt and speeding, two things that contributed to this incident.  There is only one account of DUI, though there may be more on the municiple level that aren't listed here.  It will be interesting to see what the autopsy report reveals.  He also was a bit out of his neighborhood, I'm guessing he was heading to highway 75 to go home.