An Oklahoma copper-theft suspect made a dramatic escape by diving headfirst through a closed window—but left behind a clue that allowed deputies to identify and locate him.
The incident occurred Oct. 1 after Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to a vacant home on Sunset Lane for a reported burglary in progress, according to details captured on the agency’s body-camera footage.
Inside the house, a deputy encountered 24-year-old Rayven Lee Wooten of Nicoma Park, who authorities say was removing copper wire from a dishwasher.
The video shows the deputy repeatedly instructing Wooten to remove his hands from his pockets, turn around and kneel.
“You’re not listening,” the deputy warned. “Turn around and get on your knees. You will get shot.”
Rather than comply, Wooten sprinted through the kitchen and launched himself through the living room window. The window was still closed, and the deputy reacted with a startled expletive as the suspect crashed through it.
“He just bailed out the window. He’s on foot,” the deputy reported over the radio.
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Wooten got away temporarily, but deputies said he abandoned a backpack containing his driver’s license. That identification helped investigators track him down.
The sheriff’s office later offered its own lighthearted take on the unusual escape after reviewing the body-camera footage.
“A suspect took the phrase ‘Make a break for it’ a little too literally!” the agency wrote in a post accompanying the video. Officials added that Wooten had “missed his calling as a Hollywood stuntman.”
Online viewers focused on both the deputy’s disbelief and the suspect’s decision to leave behind such an obvious lead.
“So he did all that, then left his identification behind lol,” one commenter wrote.
“The deputy’s reaction … total disbelief,” another person said.
A third commenter wrote, “Being flabbergasted and the frustration of unlocking the front door = priceless.”
Officials said Wooten faces charges of burglary, resisting arrest and obstructing an officer.
