OFFICER CHARGED IN SLAYING OF SUSPECT

STILLWATER -- Prosecutors filed a manslaughter charge Friday against a
Perkins Police Department reserve officer in the September death of an
unarmed man police were pursuing. Toby Grant Mason, 32, faces one count of
second-degree manslaughter in the Sept. 28 shooting death of Kenneth Wayne
Bailey, 22.

Police Chief Robert Williams said Mason will remain on administrative leave
from his unpaid reserve position until the case is resolved.

"We're in full support of him. I don't agree with the charges," Williams said.

On Sept. 28, Mason was working with Payne County sheriff's deputies to
capture a person who fled from an oil field near Perry that Noble County
authorities had staked out.

Authorities suspected someone was stealing anhydrous ammonia, used to make
methamphetamine, from storage tanks at the site.

With deputies watching, four men drove up to the rig. Three of the men were
arrested while Bailey drove away, authorities said. A chase started and
continued into the Perkins area in Payne County.

Mason and other officers were in the process of setting up a roadblock with
stop sticks when Bailey drove around them, according to a release from the
Payne County district attorney's office. The investigation revealed that
Mason fired one time, fatally wounding Bailey as he passed through the
intersection, it states.

Bailey was hit in the torso, and he was pronounced dead at a Stillwater
hospital, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

District Attorney Rob Hudson said in the release he filed charges because
of "negligent use of deadly force by Mason."

Mason did not attempt to disable the truck but instead aimed at the cab of
the pickup Bailey was driving, Hudson said. Law enforcement officers are
not justified in using deadly force unless they believe they or others are
in imminent danger, he said.

"The OSBI report indicates the officers did not perceive that they or
anyone else were in imminent danger from Bailey or the truck he was
driving," he said in the release.

Kym Koch, OSBI spokeswoman, said at the time of the shooting that Mason had
been working with Perkins police for only a short time and was a year away
from completing his police certification.

If convicted, Mason could be sentenced to two to four years in prison or up
to one year in the county jail.