Police Chief Arrested For Attacking, Pointing Gun At Cop Over Low Work Activity

Webbers Falls, OK – The police chief of Webbers Falls was charged with multiple felonies on Thursday for an alleged attack on one of his own officers in April.

The investigation began after an officer saw Webbers Falls Police Chief Matthew Crittenden assault another officer while he was dressing him down for poor performance on April 28, Tulsa World reported.

The officer told the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) that Chief Crittenden went to the Webbers Falls police headquarters to talk to an officer about performance problems.

He said the chief grabbed that officer by the neck and hit him multiple times, Tulsa World reported.

The probable cause affidavit said that Chief Crittenden told the officer he was assaulting that he wasn’t making enough “contacts” with residents.

The officer left the station after the assault to respond to a call on the other side of town, but then the chief asked him to return to the station house later on, Tulsa World reported.

Witnesses said Chief Crittenden had been drinking Grey Goose vodka from a bottle stored in an evidence cabinet in the meantime, and talked about driving home a department vehicle to avoid being hassled by officers from other departments.

The probable cause affidavit said that when the officer returned to the police station, the chief allegedly drew his firearm and pointed it in the direction of the officer, and then holstered it again, Tulsa World reported.

That’s when two other officers who witnessed the exchange convinced Chief Crittenden it was time to go home.

But when they saw there were children waiting in the obviously inebriated police chief’s truck, they wrestled with him to keep him from trying to drive, according to Tulsa World.

One of the officers ended up driving Chief Crittenden’s truck over to his girlfriend’s house.

Multiple officers told OSBI investigators that the chief had an ongoing bad relationship with the officer he assaulted, Tulsa World reported.

Officers said Chief Crittenden had said that he intended to harm that officer.

He was arrested on May 7 and charged with felony assault and battery on a police officer and feloniously carrying and pointing a firearm while under the influence, KOKI reported.

The chief bonded out of jail and is scheduled to next appear in court on May 21, Tulsa World reported.