Woman escapes cuffs in cruiser, shoots deputy with AR-15
GRADY COUNTY, Okla. Aug 19 2022 A woman being detained in a police car in Oklahoma is accused of slipping out of her cuffs, getting her hands on an assault rifle in the car, and opening fire.
A deputy and another man on the scene were grazed by bullet fragments. The incident was caught on camera and is prompting changes.
According to deputies, the woman, later identified as Rachel Zion Clay, was only being detained for erratic behavior and was not going to be arrested. But her fate quickly changed.
“When we detain somebody they actually go in handcuffs [and] they place you in the back seat of the patrol car,” said Grady County Undersheriff Gary Boggess. “While in the back seat of a patrol car, she was able to get her wrist free from the handcuffs and the handcuffs were put on properly. She was able to reach up on our consoles. There’s several switches, one is a gun switch to unlock the gun lock and she found it, unlocked the gun lock and was able to retrieve an AR-15 rifle. Then she was able to figure out how to put a round in it, put it on fire and she fired approximately 10 rounds at our deputies and a civilian.”
Both the officer and civilians sustained non-life-threatening injuries and have been released from the hospital.
The Grady County Sheriff’s Office is now making some changes to keep their deputies safe.
“One, I will say, is our console where it actually said ‘gun,’ and she was able to see that,” said Boggess. “That’s gonna be replaced. We’re gonna put a switch someplace else in the vehicle to lock our gun. It’s a freak deal. It’s one of these probably, I’m not gonna say one-in-a-million, but you know, it’s one of those deals that, you know, once it happens, then you go back and try to make sure it never happens again. That’s what we’re looking at.”
Clay barricaded herself in the car and surrendered nearly three and a half hours later.
Boggess says Clay tested positive for methamphetamine. She faces three charges of shooting with the intent to kill and is being held on a $1 million bond.
KOKH
