Pregnant Victim Says 19-Year-Old OKC Police Chase Suspect Helped Her Family After Allegedly Causing Rollover Crash

Oklahoma City police arrested a 19-year-old man after they said he drove away from officers and caused a crash on Interstate 44 on Saturday. 

Officers attempted to pull over suspect, Sammy Castelan, Saturday night around 10:45 p.m. because he was driving 20 mph over the 60 mph speed limit on I-44 near Lake Hefner Parkway. 

Castelan “willfully initiated a pursuit by accelerating away,” according to the Oklahoma City police report. 

The Oklahoma City resident was traveling on eastbound I-44 and took the right exit near Lake Hefner Parkway to continue traveling east on the highway, which is when police said he lost control. 

The vehicle spun out as it was merging with other eastbound traffic. A bystander driver crashed into the back of Castelan’s vehicle, police said, which caused the bystander vehicle to flip. 

The bystander vehicle was carrying Destiny Lewis, who was pregnant, her 4-year-old daughter, cousin and friend. 

“We hit the back of the passenger side of his car and we flipped over four times,” Lewis said. All five of them, including the unborn child were cleared of serious injury after the crash. 

After the car came to a rest, Lewis said she was the only person able to exit the car. She got help from a man at the scene, who she later learned was Castelan. 

He helped her pull out the other three passengers from the upside-down car. 

“I thought he was just a bystander. I didn’t know he was the actually driver of the vehicle until (officers) slammed him against the car and put him in handcuffs,” she said. “Honestly, I just think he felt bad because he didn’t mean for the wreck to happen.” 

Castelan was cleared at a hospital before officers booked him into the Oklahoma County Detention Center. He did not have a valid driver’s license, according to police. 

“There’s consequences for every action. He knew exactly what potentially could happen when he stepped on that gas pedal,” Lewis said.