Oklahoma City teen faces multiple charges after reckless driving and brief pursuit
By: -----
Oklahoma City, OK - A teenager is facing multiple charges after reckless driving and a brief pursuit early Monday morning.
An Oklahoma City Officer was patrolling S High near Southeast 29th Street around 1 a.m. on Monday when a red truck began drifting over the center line into oncoming traffic.
The officer flashed his lights to try to alert the unfocused driver, according to the police report, but the driver continued to drift off the road. When the officer flashed his lights and sirens, the truck sped up, then slowed down, eventually turning into a neighborhood and pulling into a driveway.
The officer got out of his vehicle and approached the driver's side, opened the door, and told the driver to step out. The driver, identified as 18-year-old Daniel Plascenia Lopez, drove forward with the door open, then quickly backed up, ramming into the patrol unit. The door also hit the officer, but he was able to stay upright and get back into his cruiser to pursue the truck.
The truck pulled onto the neighborhood road, hitting another vehicle that was parked along the curb of another residence. Plascenia drove through the front yard of the home before swerving back onto the road, according to the report.
He also drove at a high rate of speed on Southeast 42nd, then tried to turn onto S Lindsey but hit a telephone pole. Plascenia tried to reverse, but officers were able to box him in. He exited the car with his hands up.
While being put in the patrol unit, he reportedly was screaming and crying that he didn't do anything.
Plascenia was taken to the hospital for jail clearance. During a search of the vehicle, police found a Four Loko alcoholic beverage in the passenger side floorboard, with about a fourth of the liquid left inside.
Police report the entire truck smelled of alcohol.
Plascenia is facing eluding, assault and battery on an officer, leaving the scene of an accident involving damage, reckless driving, and DUI under 21.