Shirley said Damon Caldwell, 35, was driving erratically.

“He was running people off the road,” Shirley said. “Why is he trying to get away? One, he’s been in prison, and, two, he’s told them he’s not going back to jail.”

Caldwell was stopped about 8 a.m. Oct. 27 near 111th Street and Memorial Drive in Bixby because no tag was displayed on his pickup’s bumper, according to an arrest report.

He sped off from the Wal-Mart parking lot as Officer Richard Stewart approached his truck, records show.

Shirley said the officer at first thought there was no tag at all. When he got a closer look, he saw that a paper tag had been placed inside the pickup, but he couldn’t read the number through the truck’s tinted window, the police chief said.

The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office declined to file an improper-tag charge but did file a charge for altering a paper tag.

Caldwell also is charged with eluding police, leaving the scene of two accidents involving property damage, driving under suspension and driving with no insurance verification.

A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 3. He is being held at the Tulsa Jail with bail set at $11,950.

The District Attorney’s Office also declined to file charges alleging that Caldwell kidnapped his passenger, Tamara Barber, 23, or obstructed a police officer.

Police said Barber told them she had asked Caldwell

Barber cooperated with police and did not flee at the end of the car chase, Shirley said.

Shirley said his department’s pursuit policy considers the number of vehicles involved, traffic, weather, school zones, road conditions and other factors.

“It’s very difficult. People always question why we stop people for certain things,” Shirley said. “The officers have to make a decision based on what they see.”

A police report indicates that Caldwell at one point drove the wrong direction on Memorial Drive and almost struck several vehicles on 81st Street in Tulsa.

Police and court records show that Caldwell was traveling at a high speed on Sheridan Road and struck a vehicle at 81st Street.

He kept going, disobeying a traffic light at 71st Street and Sheridan, where he collided with another vehicle, the records allege.

“We were fortunate no one was injured in those accidents,” Shirley said.

After the second collision, the report states, Caldwell’s pickup spun and came to rest on a median around 70th Street and Sheridan, where officers approached the vehicle and gave multiple commands to stop.

As Caldwell began to drive away again, Bixby police officers attempted to shoot the truck’s tires, Shirley said.

The vehicle then went through a private business and stopped behind a liquor store, where Caldwell fled on foot across 69th Street, police said.

Officers saw him enter a backyard in the 6900 block of South 67th East Avenue, where he was taken into custody.

“The bottom line is when you run from police you’re going back to jail,” Shirley said.

Records show that Caldwell has served prison sentences for assaulting a police officer in 1992 and assaulting a detention officer in 1997.