TULSA, Okla.— A man was stabbed in the head with a flagpole at an Oklahoma fast food restaurant, police said Thursday, and is expected to survive.
The incident occurred Wednesday night at a Tulsa Sonic restaurant and culminated in the arrest of Clinton Collins, who was charged with felony mutilation, the Tulsa Police Department said in a statement.
The statement did not identify the victim or disclose Collins’ age.
“The flagpole entered the victim’s head below the jawbone and exited the other side of the head near the right temple area,” police said. “At that time the American flag was still attached to the pole.”
Firefighters with the Tulsa Fire Department had to cut off a portion of the flagpole to get the victim into an ambulance, police said.
“Miraculously, we have been informed that the victim will survive, but will likely lose an eye,” police said.
Witnesses told investigators they saw Collins lunge at the victim and stab her with the flagpole, according to the police statement.
Witnesses were able to hear Collins say: “That’s what you get. He deserves it”said the police.
Preston Stanley, a spokesman for the police department, told The Associated Press in an email that police cannot provide information on whether Collins has an attorney.
The Tulsa County Clerks’ Office said Collins is a member of the Muscogee Nation, and his case will be handled by either tribal court or federal district court.
The federal Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to handle criminal cases against defendants who are Indian citizens in much of eastern Oklahoma because it remains an American Indian reservation. That area includes most of Tulsa, the second most populous city in the state.
However, the highest US court ruled last year that Oklahoma can prosecute non-Indian Americans for crimes committed on tribal land when the victim is Indian.
As of Thursday, it remained unclear where Collins’ case would be prosecuted.
The Muscogee Nation district court said it had no information on Collins, though a case may take a few days to arrive.
Criminal case records filed in Oklahoma federal district court did not list a case against Collins as of Thursday afternoon.
Kayla McCleery, an FBI spokeswoman at the agency’s Oklahoma City office, declined to comment, noting that the FBI does not make ongoing statements on open cases.
FOUNTAIN: PA
