BRISTOW, Okla. — Two Mannford, Oklahoma, police officers misled colleagues by falsely alleging a driver had tried to run over them when she fled a traffic stop for a paper tag issue, a Tulsa World investigation shows.
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper looks in a creek bed after he intentionally hit Crystal Marie Price’s car the night of Nov. 25, 2024, wrecking and killing Price and her passenger, Dario Hendrix, in a chase in Creek County that began because of a paper license plate issue.
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Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Robert Darnell listens to Mannford Police Officer Tristan Stacks (not pictured) tell his story about what happened during his traffic stop with Crystal Marie Price and her passenger, Dario Hendrix, the night of Nov. 25, 2024, in Creek County. Darnell intentionally hit Price's car, which caused her to wreck and resulted in the deaths of Price and Hendrix.
Crystal Marie Price looks back at Mannford Police Officer Tristan Stacks (not pictured) as she rolls up her window moments before she drives off the night of Nov. 25, 2024, in Creek County. Price didn’t voluntarily exit her car, so Stacks had threatened to physically pull her out and put her in jail for an unregistered vehicle and a suspended license. Mannford Police Officer Connor Harrison is partially in the frame.
Crystal Marie Price drives off from the traffic stop straight ahead, not swerving at or toward Tristan Stacks or Connor Harrison (pictured), which both Mannford police officers wrongly alleged the night of Nov. 25, 2024. Both later wrote falsely in their reports that Price had physically hit Stacks “with the rear quarter panel of the vehicle” when taking off from the traffic stop.
Dario Hendrix
Dario Hendrix and his mother, Sandra.
Crystal Marie Price handed over her license and paperwork to Mannford Police Officer Tristan Stacks, who had stopped her for a paper tag issue the night of Nov. 25, 2024, in Creek County. The deadly pursuit wasn’t necessary, according to Mannford’s pursuit policies and best practices touted by the U.S. Department of Justice and Police Executive Research Forum, because Stacks knew her identity and could have requested an arrest warrant to apprehend her later in a less risky manner.
David VanOrsdol, front left, Julie Byrne, Amber VanOrsdol, KayCee Ragland, back row left, and Leigha VanOrsdol with a portrait of Crystal Price.
A Creek County sheriff’s deputy (pictured) and Mannford Police Officer Tristan Stacks search for Crystal Marie Price and her passenger, Dario Hendrix, after a state trooper had intentionally hit Price’s car, causing it to crash the night of Nov. 25, 2024, in Creek County.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Robert Darnell, left, talks with Mannford Police Officer Connor Harrison, right, about what happened during the traffic stop the night of Nov. 25, 2024, in Creek County. Officer Tristan Stacks (not pictured) is holding Crystal Marie Price's license and paperwork in his hands.
The scene where an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper intentionally hit and wrecked a car that killed its driver, Crystal Marie Price, and her passenger, Dario Hendrix, on Nov. 25, 2024, on Oklahoma 16 just east of South 321st West Avenue.
Corey Jones of Tulsa is a member of Lee Enterprises’ Public Service Journalism Team. corey.jones@lee.net
