"Pretty bad": Cops release 911 calls made after energy CEO's fatal crash
Oklahoma City police on Thursday released several 911 calls made following a deadly crash involving energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon.
McClendon, 56, died in a fiery single-car traffic accident on an isolated road in northeast Oklahoma City. CBS affiliate KWTV reports that first responders were called to the scene of the deadly crash just after 9 a.m. Wednesday on N. Midwest Blvd.
According to KWTV, several 911 callers reported seeing the vehicle on fire.
"It looks pretty bad," said one caller, who said he drove near the crash scene and saw the demolished SUV in flames.
A second caller reported seeing a "very serious accident" and that the cab of the car was "completely crushed." Another 911 caller reported that the car was "bursting into flames."
On Wednesday, Oklahoma City Police Capt. Paco Balderrama said that McClendon "pretty much drove straight into the wall."
"There was plenty of opportunity for him to correct and get back on the roadway and that didn't occur," Balderrama said.
Balderrama said McClendon was speeding and not wearing a seat belt in his 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe, but it's too early to tell if the collision was intentional.
State officials said Thursday that investigations into McClendon's death could take months to complete. Oklahoma City police Sgt. Ashley Peters said a probe of Wednesday's crash likely will take up to two weeks, while the state medical examiner's office said an autopsy investigation could take as long as three months.
McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake Energy and served as its CEO before stepping down in 2013, was accused Tuesday of orchestrating a scheme between two large energy companies, which were not named in an indictment, from December 2007 to March 2012. The companies would decide ahead of time who would win bids, with the winner then allocating an interest in the leases to the other company, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
In a statement released just hours before his death, McClendon fiercely denied the allegations and vowed a fight to clear his name.
"Anyone who knows me, my business record and the industry in which I have worked for 35 years, knows that I could not be guilty of violating any antitrust laws," McClendon said in the statement. "All my life I have worked to create jobs in Oklahoma, grow its economy, and to provide abundant and affordable energy to all Americans."
McClendon, part owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder, was renowned for his aggression and skill in acquiring oil and gas drilling rights. As drillers learned to unlock natural gas from shale formations using hydraulic fracturing over the last decade, McClendon pushed the company to acquire enormous tracts of land in several states.
"We've completely transformed the natural gas industry, and I wouldn't be surprised if we transform the oil business in the next few years too," McClendon told the AP in a 2011 interview.