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Did Lack of Oversight Allow CCA to House Inmates at Nursing Home?

Corrections Corporation of America (“CCA”) housed California inmates at an Oklahoma nursing home following a riot at its North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, OK.  Because CCA takes the inmates from California and places them in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has no supervisory authority or control over CCA or the inmates from California…. read more…

Pedestrian Dies Following Car Accident

A pedestrian car accident involving an unknown driver struck pedestrian JoAnn Carlson last weekend as she attempted to cross a road near Cherry Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She died this weekend from complications of injuries sustained in that car accident. The police are still searching for the driver who was apparently driving a light colored… read more…

Is Passenger Responsible for Accident by Texting Driver?

Tulsa police identified texting while driving as a cause in one of four rollover car accidents in the city over the past 24 hours. The first car accident involved two cars drag racing. One of the drivers lost control of the car as it approached a slower moving vehicle.  The second car accident occurred when… read more…

Failure to Report Abuse Can Result in Liability

A social worker who intentionally or maliciously leaves a child in a foster home, and who refuses to accept evidence of abuse, is potentially liable under federal civil rights laws, according to a decision issued yesterday by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. In Estate of BIC v. Gillen, ___ F.3d ___ (10th Cir. December… read more…

Boating Accident Highlights Difference with DUI Law

Jay Middle School principal Roger Shane Carroll of Eucha, will stand trial in Delaware County District Court for first-degree manslaughter and reckless operation of a vessel following a boating accident last July that claimed the life of Monte Price, also from Jay.  The accident highlights the substantial difference in penalties between boating under the influence and… read more…

Excessive Force Verdict Contradicts Police Investigation

On Monday a jury awarded $306,000.00 to a man for damages sustained after police used excessive force when the man questioned their authority to arrest him for standing on a sidewalk. Jurors found that police falsely arrested, battered and maliciously prosecuted Gallagher Smith after he quarreled with a doorman on Nov. 13, 2010. . …. read more…

Inmate Death at Oklahoma Prison in McAlester

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections announced the death of offender Mark Stacey, 43.  Mr. Stacey was serving time for drug related offenses.  The news release did not specify who discovered Stacey, or whether DOC had assigned a cell partner to live with him.  The report indicated that Stacey’s body did not show signs of trauma… read more…

Rollover Car Accident Claims 1 Injures 5

A rollover car accident claimed the life of a Muskogee woman and injured five others around 5 p.m. on Wednesday.  Tiffany Borovitz was killed when the 1995 suburban she was operating left the roadway and rolled over six times on the Muskogee Turnpike.  Clara and Quentin Chaplin, Dylan and Jordan Borovetz, and Christopher Crutchfield were also injured in… read more…

Texting, Sneezing and Distracted Driving

A local Tulsa teen was involved in a rollover accident Tuesday evening that resulted from texting-while-driving.  Although Oklahoma has not passed any law specifically addressing the issue of texting-while-driving, the State did pass a law in 2003 that prevents people from driving while distracted. Title 47, Section 11-901b of the Oklahoma Statutes reads as follows:… read more…

Tulsa County Jail Exceeds Capacity

The Tulsa County Jail is overcrowded.  It exceeded the maximum capacity of 1, 714 inmates on Monday afternoon.  The population count stood at 1,867.  Although population generally ebbs and flows, hitting capacity should alert county leaders that expansion plans must begin sooner rather than later.  When planning, development, funding and construction time are factored in,… read more…