TULSA — Last Wednesday, Tulsa attorney Ron Durbin went to the county courthouse to turn himself in on a complaint of misdemeanor assault.
That accusation stems from an incident in March, in which another confrontation at another doorway into a public building also turned physical.
Durbin tells KRMG what happened at the courthouse last week was, in his opinion, a deliberate manhandling of him in order to send a message.
[Hear the KRMG In-Depth Report on Durbin’s arrest HERE]
He had gone there, trailed by reporters he’d invited to attend, to turn himself in on a misdemeanor assault complaint filed regarding an incident at City Hall in March.
The reporters were turned away, without explanation, at which point Durbin started to turn around as if to remain outside.
That’s when deputies grabbed him and took him to the ground, before cuffing him and then carrying him into the courthouse.
A spokeswoman for the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office said last week the arrest was legal and conducted in accordance with the agency’s policies and procedures.
Durbin tells KRMG he believes he was targeted, because of his lawsuits against city and county officials and his loud criticisms of what he feels are violations of the open records and public meeting laws.
He also says he plans to take those issues, and others, directly to voters by campaigning to be the next mayor of Tulsa.
“Whoever sits in that mayoral office that comes through this race, is going to have answered the tough questions,” he told KRMG Sunday. “Because if they’re sitting on a stage with me, they’re not going to get to pass over an answer with some political nonsense. If they say political nonsense in a meeting where I’m sitting at, I’m going to call them out on it, and they’re going to have to come up with an answer. And if the citizens of the City of Tulsa think I’m the best person for the job, they’ll vote for me. And if they think somebody else is, at least we’ll have gotten answers... and at the end of the day, accountability is what matters.”
Meanwhile, he plans to file suit in federal court regarding the circumstances of his arrest.
He’ll also be busy defending himself in a hearing before the Oklahoma State Supreme Court over allegations of professional misconduct filed with the Oklahoma Bar Association, which could result in penalties ranging from censure to disbarment.