OFFICER SUSPENDED IN SHOOTING INQUIRY

STILLWATER -- A Perkins reserve police officer has been suspended while
agents investigate the fatal shooting of a fleeing suspect last weekend.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents met Monday with Payne County
District Attorney Rob Hudson to discuss preliminary findings about
Saturday's shooting.

The shooting involved Perkins police officer Toby Mason, 31. Mason was
working with Payne County sheriff's deputies in capturing a suspect who
fled from an oil field near Perry that had been staked out by Noble County
authorities.

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

With deputies watching, four men drove up to the rig. Three of the men were
arrested while a fourth, Kenneth W. Bailey, 22, drove away. A police chase
started and continued into the Perkins area in Payne County.

Mason and another officer had set up a road block with tire spikes, but
Bailey drove around them. As Bailey passed Mason, the reserve officer
fired, the OSBI reported. The fatal shot hit Bailey in the torso, and he
was pronounced dead at a Stillwater hospital.

Kym Koch, OSBI spokeswoman, said Bailey was not armed. Mason had been
working with Perkins police for only a short time and was a year away from
completing his police certification, Koch said.

The suspension is routine following a police-involved shooting, Hudson
said. Mason hasn't been charged.