Attorneys Tom Sawyer, left, and Eric Stall, right, appear with their client, former Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Shannon Clark, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015, at the Tulsa County Courthouse. ZIVA BRANSTETTER/The Frontier
Former Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Shannon Clark met with the district attorney in charge of the grand jury investigation into TCSO on Tuesday, and said following that meeting he hopes Sheriff Stanley Glanz will “be truthful” during that probe.
Clark’s attorneys, Eric Stall and Tom Sawyer, said it appears their client will testify in front of the grand jury sometime next week. Clark met with Okmulgee County District Attorney Rob Barris on Tuesday. Barris was placed in charge of the grand jury probe after Tulsa County DA Steve Kunzweiler recused himself from the proceedings.
Clark is one of four high-ranking TCSO deputies who were either let go or demoted since the April 2 Eric Harris scandal. Harris was shot and killed that day during a botched undercover gun sting by reserve deputy Robert Bates, a 73-year-old insurance executive who volunteered with TCSO’s Violent Crimes Task Force.
Bates, who is a longtime friend of Sheriff Stanley Glanz, as well as a past campaign donor and organizer, said he believed he was holding his Taser when he instead fired his revolver, striking Harris just below the right arm, killing him.
Clark, who was acting as public information officer and jail administrator when he was terminated, is the only one of the four previously mentioned deputies to be fired in the ensuing fallout. Undersheriff Tim Albin and Maj. Mike Huckeby were forced to resign, and Bill McKelvey was demoted from his rank as captain.
Albin and Huckeby were allowed to retire from TCSO, though Sheriff’s Office spokesman Terry Simonson said at the time their resignations had been forced, and should be thought of as a termination.
On Tuesday, Clark’s attorneys said their client appeared to be one of “about eight or nine” people who received subpoenas to testify this week.
Clark said he was a loyal employee who was “wrongfully terminated” by Glanz, and that he hopes the Sheriff “does the right thing” and tells the truth about things that happened within his office.
“I’m excited to tell my story,” Clark said.
“I was unexpectedly wrongfully terminated in an apparent effort to insinuate I was somehow to blame,” he said.
About 10:15 a.m., the 12 grand jurors and three alternates left to tour the jail. They held spiral notebooks and pens to take notes for their tour.
