Police Use Pepper Balls To Arrest Suspect

Tulsa, OK - Newly released dash-cam footage shows officers repeatedly firing pepper balls at a man who apparently refused to cooperate following a pursuit in east Tulsa last week.

Officers arrested Derrick Dwayne Ross, 42, after he pulled into a QuikTrip parking lot on 11th Street just west of the Mingo Valley Expressway on Feb. 11.

The pursuit started when Ross sped away from officers investigating reports of a suspicious vehicle near 23rd Street and 104th East Avenue, according to police. Ten minutes into the chase, Ross parked at the QuikTrip after stop sticks flattened his tires.

In footage released Tuesday, officers can be heard yelling for Ross to raise his hands out the window. The driver apparently ignores those commands, prompting officers to fire pepper balls at the Nissan Altima, shattering the rear window.

Police then tell the man to exit the car with his hands up. More pepper balls are fired when those commands are also ignored.

The man exits the car several pepper-ball barrages later. An officer who is off-screen tells him to put his hands in the air and walk backward away from the vehicle. Police fire another salvo of pepper balls when he appears to reach back into the car.

Officers with riot shields eventually charge Ross, taking him into custody. He was checked out at the OSU Medical Center before being booked into the Tulsa Jail on complaints of eluding police, driving under the influence of drugs, possession of marijuana and resisting officers.

Ross has had numerous drug-related convictions in Tulsa County since the mid-’90s, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.