By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
Canadian County Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. Shirley Lanning was speeding when her unmarked patrol car collided with another vehicle along Northwest Expressway on Friday, February 14, killing her and injuring a Piedmont couple, an Oklahoma City police report states.
The reason Lanning’s patrol car veered across the median and into oncoming traffic is not known, said Oklahoma City police Master Sgt. Gary Knight.
Knight said both Lanning and the driver of the sport utility vehicle she hit, were speeding, but an estimate on exact speed is not yet available. A police report says both vehicles were traveling in excess of the 55 mph posted speed limit on the stretch of Northwest Expressway in eastern Canadian County within Oklahoma City limits. It is not known if Lanning was distracted before the collision, the Oklahoma City police report states.
Lanning was driving west on Northwest Expressway, just east of Sara Road about 9:20 a.m., when the unmarked patrol car crossed the median. Driving an SUV east was Michael Cline, 41, with passenger Kimberly Cline, 37, both of Piedmont. Michael Cline could not swerve out of the way of Lanning’s vehicle because of traffic at the time.
The Clines suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from a hospital. Lanning was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Lanning, 58, was not on a call when the collision happened.
Lanning became a Canadian County Sheriff’s deputy in 2014. She worked for the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s office U.S. Marshal’s office and University of Central Oklahoma.
Her family requests donations in her memory be made to Oklahoma Concerns of Police Survivors, 3100 Highland Glenn, Norman, Oklahoma, 73069.
