Family waiting for justice almost six years after son killed in wrong-way crash

By Abigail Ogle

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    OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — An Oklahoma family has waited six years for justice after their son – a beloved young Tinker Air Force Base employee – was hit and killed in a wrong-way crash.

Tyler McWhorter of Chandler always loved planes.

“When he was young, we were always going to air shows,” Mike McWhorter said. “He was so mechanically inclined. I could show him stuff, and he’d pick it up and do better than me sometimes.”

It was that passion that landed Tyler his dream job at Tinker Air Force Base.

“He finally got his engine certification on the B-1s, and he got to work in the cockpit, and he was on cloud nine because he got to fire the engines up,” Mike said.

“Oh, I was excited for him because I knew that was something he really wanted. That’s all he talked about was Tinker,” Kim McWhorter said.

“He was going to study to be a supervisor,” Mike said. “He had to take some classes. He already had his books.”

Around 4 a.m. April 21, 2016, 26-year-old Tyler was on his way to work to earn some extra overtime.

“He went down the turnpike because of the construction on I-40,” Mike said. “Went the roundabout way to get to Tinker. The accident happened at mile marker 140, right where the black water tower is.”

According to a Department of Public Safety report, Tyler was hit and killed by a wrong-way driver. Troopers listed “odor of alcohol” under the driver’s condition.

“I knew something was wrong that morning,” Kim said.

“When I woke up, she said, ‘There’s been a bad wreck on the turnpike,'” Mike said.

Mike and Kim told KOCO 5 they knew in their gut it was Tyler.

“The highway patrol came by at around 10. It was around 10. They brought me his Tinker badges,” Mike said.

That was nearly six years ago.

“I kind of always had confidence in the justice system, but I’m beginning to wonder that now,” Mike said. “So many motions filed. I don’t understand it all.”

KOCO 5 went through hundreds of court documents to see what is going on in this case. Law experts said the amount of time spent on this type of case is “quite unusual.”

“I can’t believe it has been this long,” Kim said. “Everybody, every other incident – drunk drivers, what have you – have had their days in court, serving their time or whatever. Not Tyler.”

The first of nine judges involved in the case died. One got voted out. Two judges were removed because of investigations. The fourth judge initially went to trial.

“The trial, we went about four days. And then, he recused himself for whatever reason,” Mike said.

That trial resulted in a mistrial. Since then, two other judges have recused themselves.

The McWhorters thought they would finally see justice with the eighth judge.

“Then Judge Elliott, we had a couple hearings with him,” Mike said. “I thought he’s finally going to do it. Then, he up and retires.”

Now, the case is with its ninth judge. The attorney’s family called this an “extraordinary delay.”

“My experience in representing victims is that the delay in concluding cases is one of the most frustrating parts of the process,” Larry Lenora, the McWhorter’s attorney, said in a statement. “However, I tell my victim clients that the degree of frustration they experience due to delays would not compare to the frustration of an acquittal or a reversal of a conviction on appeal. I urge them to be patient and to believe in the system no matter how long it may take for justice to be served.”

“It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’ because every time we get a new judge, they file the same motion over and over again. ‘Groundhog Day’ or the ‘Twilight Zone,'” Mike said.

The McWhorters say their lives have been put on hold during this six-year “Twilight Zone.”

“We keep a little bit of him with us here,” Kim said.

“Just got to keep going, and you can’t let it eat you up. It did for a couple years. I couldn’t work after this,” Mike said. “I worked for Eaton for 40 years. I tried to go back for a while. I ended up having to retire because I couldn’t keep my mind on things.”

And they feel that Tyler has been lost.

“Everybody’s forgot about Tyler. It was a life. He was somebody,” Kim said.

KOCO 5 reached out to the District Attorney’s Office and the defendant’s attorney. Neither had a statement nor agreed to an interview.

The McWhorters said there was a court appearance Wednesday, and they are hopeful it will go to trial either late this year or early next. The next court date is set for May 19.

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