Mayes County Sheriff's Office, Oklahoma
End of Watch: Sunday, July 27, 1997
Age: 22
Tour of Duty: 1 month
Badge Number: 14
Cause of Death: Automobile crash
Date of Incident: July 27, 1997
Weapon Used: Automobile
Suspect Info: Not available
Deputy Sean Earp was killed in an accident while responding to the scene of a man with a gun call at 10 am.
Deputy Earp was at home with his family when the call came out. He called from home to respond to the incident since he lived nearby and the on-duty deputy was on the other side of the county. He responded to the location and informed dispatch that the suspect was already gone and that he would attempt to locate him. That was the last radio traffic received from him.
Dispatch then received calls about a major accident on U.S. 412 near Rose. Deputy Earp was traveling on a country road and turned onto Highway 412, failing to stop in his haste. He was hit by a car traveling eastbound and pushed his cruiser into a flea market building. He was pinned in his car for over 40 minutes and died at the scene from massive internal injuries.
He had served with the Mayes County Sheriff's Office for 27 days and had been a reserve deputy and dispatcher for the department prior to becoming a deputy. He is survived by his parents.