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Star Shells

Age : 28

Gender : Female

Race : Black

Date : 05/24/2021

Location : NE 16th Street and Martin Luther King Avenue

City : Oklahoma City

County : Oklahoma

State : Oklahoma

Agency : Oklahoma City Police Department

Officer(s) :Dustin Fulton; Greg Bell; Anthony Riley

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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REASON FOR CHASE: Oklahoma City police were tracking a Ford F-350 reported stolen from a construction site. The owner had GPS tracking on the truck and was providing police with real-time location updates. Officers Dustin Fulton and Greg Bell located the truck stopped at a red light at Northeast 30th Street and Lincoln Boulevard. Fulton positioned his cruiser directly behind it, activated his emergency lights and attempted a high-risk stop. When the truck drove through the red light, Fulton and Bell initiated a pursuit.
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NARRATIVE:
On 05/24/2021, at approximately 7:30 a.m., Oklahoma City police responded to the theft of a black Ford F-350 from a construction site at 2507 South Central Avenue. The truck had been left running with its keys inside. Officer Jon Hawkins learned that the owner could continuously track the truck through GPS and began relaying its changing location to police dispatch.
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At approximately 7:59 a.m., Officer Dustin Fulton located the truck stopped at a red light at Northeast 30th Street and Lincoln Boulevard. Officer Greg Bell pulled in behind Fulton. Fulton announced a high-risk stop, activated his emergency lights and got out of his cruiser. When the truck drove through the red turn signal, Fulton and Bell began pursuing it, with Fulton as the primary pursuit officer and Bell as the secondary officer. Officer Anthony Riley assumed the supervisory role and coordinated the pursuit.
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Police pursued the truck through populated Oklahoma City streets for five minutes and 55 seconds. Automatic vehicle-location data showed pursuit speeds approaching 100 mph. The truck reached approximately 83 mph in a 25-mph zone on Northeast 30th Street and approximately 98 mph on Santa Fe Avenue. Police continued pursuing through a series of 25-mph commercial and industrial streets.
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Police also attempted to control intersections ahead of the pursuit. At Walnut Avenue and Northeast 50th Street, an officer positioned a patrol vehicle as a roadblock. Officers used additional patrol vehicles to block traffic at Northeast 50th Street and Lincoln Boulevard and at Kelley Avenue as the pursuit continued.
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Fulton continued pursuing south on Martin Luther King Avenue toward Northeast 23rd Street. At that intersection, Fulton saw that cross traffic had a green light and that police had not been able to close the intersection ahead of the pursuit. The truck crossed against the red light through traffic. Fulton followed, temporarily losing sight of the truck as it crested a hill near Northeast 20th Street.
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As Fulton approached the crest of the hill, he saw flashing school-zone lights and traffic ahead. Fulton later testified that he was preparing to terminate the pursuit because the chase was directly endangering other motorists, but he had not radioed a termination when the fatal collision occurred.
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Star Shells, 28, had dropped off her children at daycare and school and was driving her white Chevrolet Impala eastbound through Northeast 16th Street with a green light. She was approximately six months pregnant with her son, Elijah Reeves III. The fleeing truck entered the intersection against the red light and struck Shells' car. Shells and Elijah were killed.
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Oklahoma City Police Department's internal investigation determined that the pursuit violated department policy. Investigators concluded that police were pursuing a person wanted for a nonviolent property crime and that there was no immediate need for apprehension sufficient to outweigh the danger of a high-speed pursuit through populated areas.
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OCPD formally reprimanded Fulton, Bell and Riley and required all three to undergo additional Reality Based Training. The department suspended Fulton for eight days without pay. OCPD removed Bell and Riley from their field-training-officer positions for one year and from their Law Enforcement Driving Tactics instructor positions for six months. Captain Paul Fredrickson and Major Kreg Kettler were also formally reprimanded because they monitored the pursuit by radio and failed to terminate it.
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After the pursuit ended, body-camera video recorded Fulton discussing his pursuit driving while Shells and her unborn child lay dead or dying nearby. Fulton praised his own “shuffle steering,” another officer congratulated him and fist-bumped him, and Fulton asked whether the officer liked his driving.
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CIVIL LITIGATION:
Shells' mother, Connie Basco, and Elijah Reeves, the father of her unborn child, sued Oklahoma City over the fatal pursuit. They alleged that the chase was unnecessary because police could continuously track the stolen truck through its GPS system and accused police of negligence and reckless conduct.
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The litigation produced extensive pursuit records, including officer depositions, body-camera video, automatic vehicle-location data, OCPD's administrative investigation, pursuit-route records and disciplinary documents. In 2026, the federal court granted Oklahoma City's motion for summary judgment on the federal constitutional claims and remanded the remaining Oklahoma state-law claims to Oklahoma County District Court.
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DISPOSITION:
The fleeing driver was Wacey Gerron Mikles. Mikles pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, larceny of an automobile, unlawful possession of methamphetamine and driving without a valid license. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation, with the prison term running concurrently with a federal sentence.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Dustin Fulton was the primary pursuit officer. OCPD's investigation found that he violated pursuit policy and suspended him for eight days without pay. Greg Bell was the secondary pursuit officer and Anthony Riley supervised and coordinated the pursuit. OCPD formally reprimanded both, removed them from field-training duties for one year and suspended them as Law Enforcement Driving Tactics instructors for six months.
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Fulton was later named as a defendant in a separate federal civil-rights lawsuit filed by Saadiq Long. Long alleged that Fulton participated in an unlawful traffic stop and arrest based on Long's placement on the federal terrorist watchlist. The lawsuit also named Greg Bell among multiple Oklahoma City police defendants. These were civil allegations, not findings that Fulton or Bell committed the alleged violations.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://okcfox.com/news/local/star-shells-killed-in-oklahoma-city-police-chase-files-wrongful-death-lawsuit-wacey-gerron-mikles-connie-basco-elijah-reeves-crime-martin-luther-king-boulevard-may-24-2024-okcpd-unborn-son
https://kfor.com/news/local/family-of-pregnant-bystander-killed-during-high-speed-police-chase-sues-the-city-of-okc/
https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/oklahoma/okwdce/5%3A2023cv01143/125038/115
https://www.koco.com/article/pregnant-mother-of-3-killed-after-suspect-crashes-vehicle-into-hers-during-police-pursuit-in-ne-okc/36523627
https://www.koco.com/article/chase-deadly-crash-victim-sues-oklahoma-city-police-department/44065069
https://www.yahoo.com/news/wrongful-death-lawsuit-against-okc-110244297.html
https://tucson.com/news/nation-world/crime-courts/oklahoma-highway-patrol-oklahoma-city-police-public-safety/article_e0ecf9cc-2d06-530f-a1b4-2899949dce03.html
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/oklahoma/okwdce/5%3A2023cv00080/120819