VINITA, Okla. -- Kim Guthrie-Harrel noticed police lights flashing from a cross street in the late morning hours while driving Route 66 near Foyil, Oklahoma.
"Highway rules," Kim thought, as she began to slow and move over. Suddenly she saw a truck speeding over railroad tracks in front of the police lights and directly for her vehicle.
She reached to shield her 23-year-old daughter, Logan, from the passenger-side impact.
Airbags blasted out and glass showered.
Someone put Kim in a neck brace while she pleaded for them to help Logan, not herself.
"I knew at that time she was partially ejected out the backseat door," Kim recalled. "She was still buckled in and everything, so the impact actually moved the seat."
Logan Dawn Harrel, a vibrant and witty Army veteran and freshman college student, was dead. She was killed by a high-speed police chase over what was broadcast as a suicidal juvenile runaway in a stolen vehicle on Oct. 20 in Rogers County.
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"There's days that we're good and we can share memories and laugh and go on and have our normal days," Kim said three months later in an interview with Tulsa World and the Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team. "And then there's days that we'll just be sitting in the living room, and a commercial will come on and we start bawling."
Prior to the fatal wreck, Vinita police stopped chasing Anthony Giancola, 17, because they believed the teen was attempting suicide-by-cop. Those officers deemed it not worth the high-speed pursuit's grave dangers as police already were able to electronically track the stolen car's location.
However, the Rogers County Sheriff's Office soon found and pursued Giancola after he wrecked that vehicle in a ditch and stole a nearby pickup truck to continue fleeing. An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper assisted the chase.
Sheriff Scott Walton said that a "prolonged and potentially violent spree" could have unfolded if Rogers County deputies didn't intervene.
Logan's tragic killing occurred in a state with the eighth-highest rate of police vehicle-pursuit deaths per 100,000 residents from 2016-2022, according to a World and Lee Public Service Journalism team investigation.
About one of every four deaths in Oklahoma vehicle chases during that time were innocent people who hadn't been directly part of the pursuits. And traffic violations or property crimes prompted the vast majority of the deadly chases -- factors that leading experts say should negate high-speed pursuits.
Giancola survived his violent crash into the Harrel family's SUV. The 17-year-old is charged as an adult with first-degree murder in Logan's death in Rogers County.
He also is charged with endangering others while attempting to elude, causing great bodily injury while attempting to elude, larceny of a vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, and pattern of criminal offenses.
For Kim and her family, they are "learning a new normal."
Logan had just returned home to start her first semester at Rogers State University in Claremore. She was to study elementary education after four years of Army service, including a stint in Kuwait as a JAG Corps paralegal. The 2019 graduate of Vinita High School aspired to become a math teacher.
Her mother recalled Logan's free spirit. Logan would dress for school as a youngster in polka dots and stripes because she was comfortable -- no matter if others might tease her for it.
Logan advocated for herself and others from an early age.
"She was a defender of everyone. She hated bullies," Kim said. "She would defend the littlest people, even if she was the only person standing up for them. She was very vocal like that."
Jasmine, one of the four close siblings, described her and Logan as inseparable.
The two hung out on lunch breaks. They Facetimed every day -- even if just to have their phones sitting next to each other while watching TV.
"It's hard just having to realize -- like every day -- something else that she's missed out on. Or something that's going to happen in everyone else's future, but it's not going to happen in hers," Jasmine said. "It feels crazy saying that I feel like I think about it every day, every minute. But I do."
Jasmine said she and her family are reserving comments about the police chase itself because the investigation and case are ongoing.
'Waves of processing grief'
Kim was driving Logan to buy a wet hair brush and shop around in Claremore. Later that day, Kyle -- her son and Logan's brother -- would hold a gender reveal party for his first child.
The violent passenger-side impact sent Kim Harrel's SUV and life into a spin.
After the impact, her Chevrolet Trailblazer rotated to rest in the grassy median on Route 66 at East 410 Road near Foyil -- or about 10 minutes northeast of Claremore. The fleeing Chevrolet Duramax rolled over in a cloud of dust and debris.
A good Samaritan who witnessed the crash compressed a bleeding wound on Kim. As Logan's death dawned on Kim, the man helping Kim talked to calm her -- "I am eternally grateful for that" -- before she was placed in a medical helicopter and flown to a Tulsa hospital.
She suffered a fractured sternum and several broken ribs. She has shoulder issues now, too.
"It's not fun being an old person trying to heal," Kim said. "In this cold weather, it doesn't feel really good."
Shopping was a hobby -- or habit -- for Logan. So too were Crocs, which Logan wore with her prom dress and graduation gown -- or really with any outfit given her stockpile.
Logan also collected several Army commendation medals. Perhaps as gratifying were the QuikTrip taquitos for her first meal off the plane with family in Tulsa from Kuwait.
"One day Jasmine came in, and she was just mad for no reason. She was just mad," Kim said. "She was crying because she was mad she didn't get to share an experience with her sister. So we ride those waves of processing grief."
Logan played the flute and tuba in band. She ran hurdles in track.
She was a cheerleader and cheer coach -- "grandma" to the RSU cheer squad as she was older than the assistant coach.
"She was a smart kid, always a smart kid," Kim said.
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Hearing voices or 'sound mind'?
Giancola's and Logan's loved ones were seated on opposite sides of a Rogers County District Court room Jan. 9 in Claremore.
Moist eyes were on both sides for the brief start of the 17-year-old's preliminary hearing. It was continued to Thursday.
The probable cause arrest affidavit describes Giancola as autistic, along with mental health issues that included hearing voices. It also lays out his alleged admissions to stolen cars, a home invasion (not known to law enforcement until after his arrest), and multiple high-speed chases.
Ultimately, Rogers County Sheriff's Deputy Keenin Marcotte wrote that Giancola was articulate and "appeared to be of sound mind," speaking in a "deliberate manner."
Giancola authored an apology letter to Kim in which he said he wanted the death penalty for himself, Marcotte wrote.
"Giancola stated that he knew right from wrong and appeared to be well aware of the consequences of his actions," Marcotte wrote.
Giancola reportedly told Marcotte that on Oct. 16 -- a few days before the deadly pursuit -- he had stopped taking his medications, including mood stabilizers.
He had begun hearing a voice in his head. He was terminated from his job on Oct. 18. The voice told him to travel from Missouri through Texas to California.
After his truck's fuel ran empty Oct. 19, Giancola reportedly stole a Chevrolet Impala from a residence in Missouri. Police contacted him later as he slept in the Impala.
"(He) fled from this encounter, which initiated a brief vehicle pursuit," Marcotte wrote. "Giancola evaded law enforcement by admittedly traveling at a high rate of speed while traveling into oncoming traffic."
The voice in Giancola's head reportedly told him to visit the home of a former mentor and steal his vehicle to abandon the Impala. He entered through an unlocked door while he heard the man snoring.
Marcotte wrote that Giancola described planning to "murder everyone in that house" -- but instead left in the stolen Impala because the key fob he took didn't unlock any vehicles.
The teenager allegedly then stole an unlocked Subaru Forester, which he drove into Oklahoma.
Vinita police call off chase
The Vinita Police Department received a report of someone trying unsuccessfully to burglarize vehicles in a church parking lot about 9:53 a.m. Oct. 20.
Nearly an hour earlier, VPD had been notified by a Missouri police agency that they were electronically tracking a Forester stolen by a suicidal juvenile runaway with a knife headed toward Vinita.
An officer soon saw a Forester matching the description and tried to pull him over. Giancola sped off.
Vinita Police Chief Mark Johnson said after about three minutes his lieutenant called off the chase because of the suspect's driving behavior and information from Missouri.
Johnson said the lieutenant realized the teen wanted to die, perhaps "by cop" or otherwise.
"I appreciate my officers for making judgment calls," Miller said. "It's hard sometimes when officers get in pursuits for them to be able to back themselves off and realize that it's not necessarily worth it to the public.
"So I appreciate my guys for realizing that and making the right decision."
A dispatcher put that information out on law enforcement airwaves.
"Vinita PD also advised that he's trying to do suicide-by-cop," the dispatcher said.
Two attempts at spike strips
The Rogers County Sheriff's Office initially didn't chase Giancola.
He reportedly sped into small-town Foyil on Route 66 at 124 mph -- too fast for a deputy who had to turn around and estimated the Forester was about a mile ahead of him.
About 15 minutes later, Deputy Marcotte spotted the Forester wrecked in a rural ditch. He encountered a nearby resident saying his Chevrolet Duramax had just been stolen.
Sheriff Walton said at that point Rogers County had two pieces of documentation: he wrecked a car driving fast, and now he was in another one driving fast.
"He's going to continue to drive fast and recklessly," Walton said. "So we engage him in the second pursuit real quick."
Marcotte found the fleeing Duramax after about three minutes. Nearby, Sgt. Austin Fullerton threw out spike strips in preparation.
A minute later, Fullerton's body-camera footage showed Giancola slow almost to a stop as he went into a ditch to try to maneuver around the spikes. Fullerton ran up to the driver's side with his firearm in hand yelling at Giancola to get out.
The teen sped off again, and Fullerton went back to his patrol SUV.
The "public narrative" report from the Sheriff's Office claimed that Giancola was "swerving at Deputies" -- refuted by Fullerton's body-cam and other video footage.
About three minutes later, a Highway Patrol trooper got spike strips in front of the truck again. A "good stick" that time.
The deadly crash occurred only about 20 seconds later.
"Your heart breaks for the innocent victims," Walton said. "It's a tragedy of big magnitude that two ladies are going down the road, and one of their lives is taken away and the other one loses her daughter and is seriously injured as a result of his poor decisions."
Corey Jones of Tulsa is a member of Lee Enterprises' Public Service Journalism Team. [email protected]
In this Series Fatal high-speed pursuits in Oklahoma Nov 14, 2024 Man in crisis said he wanted to 'die by cop' in high-speed chase. Oklahoma police obliged. Nov 13, 2024 As deaths surged from police pursuits, one agency curbed chases; another erased policies Nov 17, 2024 1 in 4 motorists in this state's police chases were innocent. Find out where. 7 updates Previous 0 Comments Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter
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