The OSBI is investigating the death of a Garvin County man who led police on a high-speed chase and then barricaded himself in his home east of Pauls Valley Jan. 30.
Authorities believe the man, identified as 32-yearold Derek Davidson, died after a pipe bomb in the home detonated during the standoff, according to Garvin County Sheriff Jim Mullett.
The situation began just after 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 30, as three Pauls Valley Police Officers were leaving the Garvin County Courthouse following a hearing. According to Pauls Valley Police Chief Don May, the officers observed Davidson driving erratically as he traveled westbound on Grant Avenue in front of the courthouse. Davidson was allegedly honking and making crude gestures at the officers.
May said the officers followed Davidson and as he traveled west on Grant Avenue, his speed continued to increase, which led officers to initiate a traffic stop. Davidson continued to speed away, according to May, leading officers on a high-speed pursuit through Pauls Valley before heading north on Interstate 35 to Kimberlin Road. From there, he drove back toward U.S. Highway 77, where the Garvin County Sheriff’s Office joined the pursuit, and then on county roads to a residence on North County Road 3260 (City Lake Road).
During the pursuit, the suspect nearly collided with law enforcement vehicles, Mullett said.
Once at the residence, Davidson fled inside. Pauls Valley Officers and Garvin County Deputies initially followed Davidson toward the residence, according to Mullett, but stopped when they saw him with what they believed to be a weapon.
At that point Davidson barricaded himself in the home.
“During that time, we tried to negotiate him out of the house,” Mullett said. “He wouldn’t come out.”
Learning Davidson was Native American, the Sheriff’s Office contacted Chickasaw Lighthorse Police, who deployed a tactical team to the location.
During the standoff, Mullett said law enforcement officers were in communication with Davidson, who refused to leave the residence.
The Lighthorse tactical team deployed “gas agents” into the house, followed by a drone, which Mullett said Davidson destroyed.
Shortly after, officers on scene heard what sounded like a small explosion inside the residence, according to Mullett.
The Lighthorse tactical team deployed a robot into the home, at which point they found Davidson dead.
“It appears that a pipe bomb, or some kind of device, had exploded which took his life,” Mullett said.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol’s Bomb Squad responded to the scene and was able to clear the area.
The bomb squad located two secondary explosive devices inside the residence, along with components for additional devices that had not been completed, Mullet said.
“They also said the house was ‘trapped’ so that those devices would go off if we had entered the house,” Mullett said.
The OSBI has taken over the investigation at the request of the Sheriff’s Department.
They will try to determine what caused the detonation and whether it was an intentional act by the subject or something else, Mullett said.
“We’ve got a lot of investigation to go, obviously.
Those items will be collected and analyzed and hopefully we’ll get an answer as to whether it was a self-destructive act or if it was an accidental detonation,” Mullett said. “We’ve got a lot of unanswered questions right now.”
As of earlier this week, the residence had been released back to Davidson’s family, Mullett said.
May said he appreciated the level of collaboration between all five law enforcement agencies that responded to the situation Friday, including the GCSO, OSBI, OHP and Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse.
“The Sheriff did a great job of assisting us, and then when it moved out into the county the roles were reversed, of course,” May said. “I commend my officers. They did a good job of trying to stop a threat on the roadway.”
