DPS: Fired Trooper Was Meeting 'Scantily Clad' Female When Fatal Shooting Happened

The Department of Public Safety fired an off-duty Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper for violating six policies on the night he shot and killed a man at a Tulsa motel in a part of town that "has a reputation for prostitution and illegal drug activity."<br/>

Friday, September 12th 2014, 5:31 pm

By: Richard Clark


The Department of Public Safety fired an off-duty Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper for violating six policies on the night he shot and killed a man at a Tulsa motel in a part of town that "has a reputation for prostitution and illegal drug activity."

DPS fired trooper Sheldon Robinson, a 16-year-veteran, on August 20, 2014, almost a year after he shot and killed a man at the Best Budget Inn at Admiral and Sheridan.


8/21/2014: Related Story: Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Fired For Policy Violations


9/3/2014: Related Story: OHP Identifies Trooper, Man Involved In Deadly Tulsa Shooting

The man he killed was Michael Swatosh, 25. Robinson, 47, had been on paid leave during the investigation.


9/6/2014: Related Story: Family Mourning Man Shot By Off-Duty Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper

The details of the DPS investigation into the shooting are contained in the termination letter DPS sent to Robinson, which it released Friday, September 12, 2014.

The letter lists six policies the department says Robinson violated. They are:

1. Conduct unbecoming an officer
2. Truthfulness
3. Insubordination
4. Public Example
5. Immoral Conduct
6. Conformance of laws

The letter also says Robinson violated the law by making false statements during an internal state agency investigation.

The letter notes the Tulsa County District Attorney's office has so far declined to file charges in the case.

According to the letter, Robinson was off duty when he'd left home in Bixby to go to Tulsa to visit a friend at a night club, go to a casino and run errands. At 1 a.m. on September 1, 2013, he drove by a motel and noticed a female wearing only a bra and "boy shorts" on a second floor balcony, the letter says.

The letter says Robinson admitted that he knew it was a violation of policy to go "to a motel in the middle of the night in an area with a reputation for prostitution and illegal drug activity, to meet a scantily clad female on the balcony." 


The letter says Robinson "engaged in deceptive conduct" while being interviewed by investigators on September 23, 2013 and March 14, 2014, and while testifying before the Chief's Review Board on May 30, 2014. 

The Chief's Review Board voted unanimously to fire Robinson and found his behavior leading up to the shooting as "atrocious," according to the letter.

It says Robinson claimed during the investigation that he received no discipline while he was a trooper, but investigators found that he actually received informal discipline at least four times as well as at least two written reprimands.


The letter also noted that Robinson, even though he was off duty, was wearing his badge on his belt, "despite the disreputable character and reputation of the area in which you intentionally placed yourself."


The letter is signed by Michael Thompson, the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.



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