Councilors irked by lack of arrest

By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer 9/18/2008

A suspect in a fatal hit-and-run allegedly had admitted his role.

Two city councilors on Tuesday challenged the Tulsa Police Department's failure to arrest a man after he allegedly admitted his involvement in a fatal hit-and-run accident.

"I would think everybody would understand our concern about this," Councilor Bill Christiansen said. "The perception of this whole thing is bad."

Pedro Urquta Contreras, 37, was booked into the Tulsa Jail last week, more than a month after he admitted to a police officer that he hit a motorcycle on July 28 and left the scene, police and jail records show.

The motorcycle rider, Anna Shouse, 46, was left lying in the street after the crash and died at a hospital four days later.

The Tulsa World on Sept. 6 reported Contreras' alleged confession and lack of arrest.

He was arrested and charged Sept. 8 with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, running a red light and driving without a license. The red-light charge was amended the next day to negligent homicide.

Councilors were told that it wasn't until Contreras was booked into jail that officials learned that he was an illegal immigrant from Honduras. A hold was added to his record for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Police Chief Ron Palmer said Contreras' immigration status played no role in the officer's reluctance to arrest him in July, because officers don't ask whether someone is in the country illegally.

Even though Contreras admitted through a nonsanctioned interpreter that he was the driver of the vehicle that hit Shouse, other variables, such as a lack of corroborating evidence, were involved, and the officer chose not to arrest him, Palmer said.

By law, the officer has that discretion, he said.

Christiansen queried: "So this guy commits a hit-and-run, doesn't have a valid driver's license, and the officer just uses his discretion and elects not to arrest him?"

"It wasn't picture-perfect," Palmer said. "Me, myself, I probably would have made the arrest. I like a bird-in-hand concept and then work it out."

Councilor Jack Henderson said he doesn't understand why a confession isn't enough to make an arrest.

"If someone says, 'Yep, it was me,' you had him," Henderson said. "You had a chance to arrest him before he went out there and maybe hurt someone else."

Palmer said people sometimes admit to crimes that they haven't committed.

"If there is uncertainty on the part of the officer, that demands further investigation," he said.

Councilors John Eagleton and Rick Westcott, both attorneys, agreed that a confession by itself doesn't establish probable cause for an arrest.

Henderson said he has watched people get arrested, and "I've never seen a situation where someone has said, 'Yep, it's me,' and they weren't arrested.

"It's hard to believe, because most citizens think they get arrested for nothing."
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