Posted on 12/29/2023 10:37:19 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie
OKMULGEE, Okla. — The Okmulgee County Criminal Justice Authority, who runs the Okmulgee County Jail, issued a statement on Dec. 29 about an incident between its employees and Muscogee Nation Lighthorse police over a week ago.
The OCCJA called a fight between their officers and Lighthorse police on Dec. 18 a "challenging interaction."
The argument, which turned physical, was sparked by a disagreement over jurisdictional rights. Lighthorse police arrested a man for fentanyl possession and driving recklessly in a school zone.
The OCCJA said it has no contractual detention agreement and therefore, denied taking the arrested man into the jail.
"Once it was determined the arrestee was non-native, the detention staff further delayed the incarceration based on jurisdictional understanding," the OCCJA said in a statement.
This is when Lighthorse Officer Bell told jail staff he was acting as a state officer under cross-deputization with the Grand River Dam Authority. The officer said he had to make the arrest because no other law enforcement was available to assist at the time.
The OCCJA said Sgt. Mathew Douglas, who MCN Lighthorse attempted to arrest the day after the incident, was unaware of the GRDA or the law enforcement authority of the GRDA continued to "delay" the incarceration of the arrested man while he sought clarification away from the Lighthorse officers.
Lighthorse Deputy Police Chief Dennis Northcross followed Douglas into a controlled room of the jail, which the OCCJA said is a felony.
The OCCJA and the Muscogee Creek Nation describe the incident differently, but the security footage of the incident is attached at the bottom of this story for viewers to decide for themselves.
To read statements from the Muscogee Creek Nation, Okmulgee Sheriff's Office and the Attorney General about the incident, click here.
Previous coverage >>> Muscogee Nation says jail official assaulted officer after jurisdiction dispute The OCCJA explained the physical altercation like this: "When Sgt Douglas unexpectedly turned and saw Northcross, he verbally instructed him he was in a restricted and controlled area and needed to return to the pre-booking area," said in a statement on Facebook. "Northcross resisted the request as Sgt Douglas attempted to usher him out. Northcross became aggressive towards Sgt. Douglas and pushed him with two hands (Violation of Oklahoma State Statue Title 21-649 – a Felony crime) and attempted to force his way further into the controlled area. Douglas continued to use his body to block Northcross causing Northcross to attempt to put Douglas in an armbar control technique. Being unsuccessful, Northcross again attempted to push past Douglas moving further into the controlled area while Douglas kept his hands in a non-aggressive position."
The OCCJA said more than a dozen Lighthorse squad cars arrived at the jail shortly after the incident occurred, calling it a calculated and orchestrated confrontation.
The jail claims it was never given a copy of the cross-deputization agreement between GRDA and Lighthorse police, but after discussions with the District Attorney learned Lighthorse was acting within proper authority.
On Dec. 19, 2023, Executive Director Shannon Clark and OCCJA Chairman R. David Walker met with Principal Chief Hill and his Administrative Staff.
"After an hour-long meeting, which Clark described as productive, informative, and insightful, both parties agreed to exchange videos capturing the incident to better understand each other’s professional position. Clark said the meeting ended positively and with the shaking of hands and the exchange of their word, it was agreed to put this incident behind them, in the interest of public safety and make the CN and State a better place," the jail authority said in it's statement.
It was after this meeting that Lighthorse police attempted to arrest Douglas. The OCCJA said the MCN failed to provide body cam footage of the incident after they released their security footage. Lighthorse officers were unable to arrest Douglas as he had already left for the day.
2 News received the body cam footage from the MCN that day. We reached out the jail several times after the incident. This statement is the first 2 News has heard from the OCCJA since.
The OCCJA also said Lighthorse police remained in the area after failing to arrest Douglas. They claim Lighthorse officers followed an employee to her home.
"The OCCJA administration and staff are sadden, perplexed, and disheartened that the CN Attorney General Geri Wisner would recklessly and unjustly order for the arrest of a non-native citizen for an alleged crime, utilizing native laws, while applauding the aggressive and calculated criminal misconduct of her LH colleagues," the statement reads.
I'd call this an insurrection.
Lighthorse is the Indian police and their law center is in Okmulgee so there's a bunch there.
From the first episode of “Longmire.”
Sounds like a good TV show.
Sounds like the OCCJA were the dumb ones in this incident.
Real bright of those cops. They’ll get some -extra- speedy services now when they book prisoners. Nothing but an idiot cop picks a fight with the local lockup.
Sounds like the idiot cops were confronted with a jail that didn’t get the word, and decided throwing their weight around and getting “tough guy” was the way to resolve it.
Morons... all they had to do was call the DA and have the DA call the jail director. But trying to bully people down is more fun.
Idiots.
The Creek Nation started this with McGirt and they are the ones making the most trouble with it. Don't know why but they are.
The Ketowah band of Cherokee had been going around Western Sequoyah County making up their own law and stopping random people. I think that got stopped. They have a very narrow jurisdictional area of something like a few square blocks near Del Rancho in Tahlequah.
I figure before this is all over Eastern Oklahoma will look more like Pine Ridge in South Dakota.
So, they let Pedro go?
This could have been easily settled with a few beers and whiskey chasers.
I suppose that's another way to view it, but the Jail apparently didn't get the memo that they had the authority to make arrests and house them in the jail.
I see the jail as dropping the ball. Perhaps they were trying to call some authority that could explain this to them when the fight started.
I don't know why the jail just couldn't put the guy in a holding cell until the matter was resolved. Leave it to the courts to deal with if it is wrong. It's not like any of them individually will be held accountable for a wrong decision.
“ The “One Oklahoma” task force will consist of the Governor, top state lawmakers, the attorney general, tribal representatives, and several law enforcement officials.
The task force will develop recommendations for new legislation and uniform cross-deputization requirements.
Governor Stitt signed Executive Order 2023-32 shortly after a dispute over tribal jurisdiction between a Muscogee Creek Lighthorse officer and an Okmulgee County jailer.
The full Executive Order can be found below:”
They cannot accept him into custody without legal authority to do so and they would get the living snot sued out of them if they did. They simply cannot.
And the Jail leader erred in not getting the word to his jail.
But the solution isn’t for the tribal police to start chest bumping and pushing people to see if they can bully them into it.
It should have taken less than an hour to call the DA, explain the situation, and have her call the jail director. Easy... but roids make that seem too hard.
And then what is the deal with tribal police goons coming back later to try to arrest the jail supervisor, and following his people to their houses?
The cops are too full of themselves here. If they treat the jailers that way, god only knows how they treat regular people.
You must have seen video or something. I can't see videos on this machine. The operating system is too old and the browser is also too old.
When people post video links, I cannot use them.
Well, I actually did see the video. And I wasn’t sure what to think until I did. Also, the jail supervisor should have called the director to apprise him of the situation also.
But in any case, not a good thing for cops and jailers to be squaring off. But typical for modern America I guess.
The first Governor in history to lose half his state.
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