2 Caught During OKC Burglary; 1 Tries To Hang Himself In Cruiser

<p>Two men are locked up in the Oklahoma County Jail after police say they caught them red-handed, burglarizing a southside business park.</p>

Thursday, February 22nd 2018, 9:53 pm



Two men are locked up in the Oklahoma County Jail after police say they caught them red-handed, burglarizing a southside business park.Newly released body camera footage, released from officers show how everything went down Sunday night.

Here is an excerpt as officers first approached:

Officer: "Don't you move those hands......I have got them over here Brett, at gunpoint.” 

Neighbors off Council near, near SW 74th have been on high alert because of a rise break-in’s.

Sunday, around midnight, one shop owner spotted a pick-up truck with two suspects inside pulling into a nearby lot.

The witness reports the suspects shut off the lights to the vehicle and then the truck slipped through a side gate.

Soon, two units pull up and say they found 41-year old Justin Woods and 43-year old Jason Meeks backed up to a flatbed trailer.

One of the suspects did claim he worked in the business park, but officers say his other statements didn't add up.

Officer: "Why you're here at midnight? You say I am trying to move to Clinton. What does that mean? Why does that mean that your truck is here in a business area that has had a lot of burglaries?"

That makes zero sense to me.

Suspect: "I didn't know there's a bunch of burglaries here.”

The trailer the two allegedly tried to steal, worth about $1000 and belongs to a retired OKC Firefighter Ted Whitnah.

He says he has owned the business park for about two years.

Whitnah says he is frustrated by the burglaries because thieves steal valuable items and then turn around and sell them for cheap.

However, is most concerned that there is no way to trace trailers down because in the state of Oklahoma a plate for the trailer is not required, and proving ownership is sometimes difficult.

“I had a bunch of trash on it. They threw the trash off and had loaded it the trailer up and were headed out. Then, the popped the trailer off when they saw the cops coming in,” Whitnah says.

One suspect appears to have had Meth and Xanax , and officers say the other had drug paraphernalia.

Both were jailed on complaints of burglary second.

By the time officers pulled up to the jail, they say Jason Meeks tried to hang himself with a patrol car seat belt.

Suspect: (yelling)

Officer: "Hang on. Hang on. Hang on."

Suspect: (yelling)

Officer: "Are you trying to hang yourself dude?"

Hey, are you trying to hang yourself?”

Meeks was soon revived, and booked. Officers thought at first he was he was pretending to be asleep to avoid going to jail.

“I think they are kinda at a dead end on their life, I don't know. Bout hit rock bottom when you're stealing for dope,” Whitnah says.

Because of the quick arrest, no items were reported stolen from the businesses.

Whitnah says while the man claims he worked in the area, he does not know either of the suspects.

Plans have been made to upgrade security at the park.

Whitnah says he’s grateful and blessed to have neighboring shops that look out for each other.

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