By Tim Farley
News Editor
Five Canadian County deputies were cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting death of a man who led lawmen on a high-speed chase last month.
The shooting occurred in Kingfisher County, north of the Okarche city limits.
Mike Fields, district attorney for Canadian and Kingfisher counties, said a shooting probe by agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation found no criminal wrongdoing by the five deputies who were identified as John Bridges, Christopher Contgreras, Bryan Dellinger, Jason Glass and Christopher Sonaggera.
The suspect was identified as Alexander Lindahl.
“Mr. Lindahl’s actions led deputies to reasonably believe the use of deadly force was necessary to protect themselves and the public from serious bodily harm including death,”
Fields said in a prepared statement. “Mr. Lindahl posed an immediate and potentially lethal threat to the deputies as well as to the public. In this instance, the use of deadly force was justified under the law.”
Lindahl was shot and killed Oct. 8 after he led officers from several law enforcement agencies on a lengthy high-speed chase while armed with a handgun and driving a stolen vehicle.
The shooting investigation revealed Lindahl drove a pickup stolen from the Braum’s farm in Tuttle. At one point, Union City police tried to stop the truck, but Lindahl did not stop which prompted the pursuit.
Eventually, officers from the sheriff’s office and the El Reno Police Department joined the chase. During the pursuit, speeds reached 100 miles per hour. At one point, Lindahl braked abruptly in an apparent attempt to cause a wreck with a police car, Fields said in his statement.
The chase continued through an Okarche school zone and north outside the city limits where the suspect left the roadway as he tried to pass two vehicles. At that point, Lindahl lost control of the vehicle, over corrected to the left and found himself stuck in the State Highway 81 median.
Lindahl got out of the truck while holding a handgun prompting the five deputies to shoot the suspect multiple times. He died at the scene despite medical intervention by the deputies.
Kingfisher County Sheriff Dennis Banther requested the OSBI investigation since the shooting occurred in Kingfisher County limits.
