Atoka Resident Sentenced For Killing Four Durant Teens In May 2020 Motor Vehicle Collision

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Bradley Shawn Pittman, age 45, of Atoka, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 405 months in prison each for four counts of Second-Degree Murder in Indian Country.  The sentences will be served concurrently.

The charges arose from investigations by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Durant Police Department, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Texas Highway Patrol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On December 1, 2020, Pittman pleaded guilty to four counts of Murder in Indian Country – Second Degree.  At the plea hearing, Pittman admitted that he was driving a pickup at speeds of over 70 miles per hour on Main Street in Durant when he collided into the rear of another vehicle that was stopped at a traffic light just before midnight on May 24, 2020.  Four Durant teens in the other vehicle were killed in the collision. At the time of the collision, Pittman registered a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit, was driving on a suspended or revoked driver’s license, and had previously been convicted of driving under the influence on three separate occasions.

The crimes occurred in Bryan County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation and within the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

“Every parent’s worst fear is having your child taken from you in the blink of an eye. Four teenagers were stolen from their families with one reckless decision that has had a devastating and rippling impact on the Durant community,” said FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray. “Let this sentence serve as a reminder of the grave and irrevocable consequences of driving under the influence, so that no other family will have to endure such tremendous loss.”

“No sentence can heal the loss to these families and this community,” said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Wilson.  “The devastation brought about by one individual’s reckless actions underscores our determination to hold those accountable who engage in criminally reckless actions within the Eastern District of Oklahoma.”

The Honorable John F. Heil, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearings in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin D. Traster represented the United States.