Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission (ABLE) Agent Lori Thomas, 36, was killed on Oct. 23, 1994, when a man eluding Durant Police ran a stop and struck her state vehicle at the Highway 78/Rodeo Road intersection, and now Thomas has a bridge named in her honor.
On Nov. 6, the bridge on the Durant bypass over South Ninth Avenue was dedicated as the ABLE Agent Lori Thomas Memorial Bridge. Agent Thomas had served with the Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission for 15 years. She is survived by her son who went on to serve with the United States Marshals Service.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Ronnie Hampton thanked State Sen. David Bullard for the legislation to have Thomas recognized. Family members and colleagues of Thomas were among those attending the dedication.
Hampton was a Durant police officer in 1994, and he investigated the crash that killed Thomas. According to Hampton, Thomas was out almost every weekend working until the early morning hours to make sure establishments were not serving underaged people or serving drinks they were not licensed to serve.
“I’m glad that Lori has been acknowledged, the sacrifice that she made,” Hampton said. “It’s sad the way it happened. Out of hundreds and hundreds of traffi c deaths that I’ve dealt with, this one was probably the most personal. This is a friend and I’m just glad that now on, the family as they drive this road, they’re going to see that she’s been recognized for her sacrifice and then there’s people (driving by) who say, ‘Who is this?’ and they do a little research and see the good work that she did and how her life was taken from her from a person that never should have been on the road.”
Brandon Clabes, ABLE executive director, attended the dedication and he said that he was police chief in Midwest City at the time, so he did not have the privilege of working with Thomas.
“She lost her life while serving the State of Oklahoma,” Clabes said. “Several of the agents that worked with her are here today. I want to make sure that credit is given to where it goes and that’s to Ronnie Hampton, captain in the highway patrol and Senator Bullard for this great sign to remember Lori. I heard Lori was fantastic. So, it’s very close to our family and this is such a great tribute to Lori and to the family here.”
Thomas was Billy Albright’s sister-in-law and Thomas said he knew her for many years.
“We were the same age,” Albright said. “She was a special person. I really appreciate honoring her this way. I’m really thankful that her memory will still be in this area for many years.”
Joe Daniels, retired ABLE special agent in charge, showed a photo of Thomas, himself and other officers at the scene of the last moonshine still taken down by Thomas on Oct. 15, 1994, in McCurtain County. He also shared memories of Thomas.
“When I was hired, they assigned Lori as my partner,” Daniels said. “So, they said, ‘You’re going to work with her a lot.’ I go down there and meet her and I drove up to the old highway patrol headquarters one evening. Went in there and met Lori for the first time, wearing a dress.
“One of the few times I’ve seen her in a dress. We spent the day her trying teaching me how to work undercover. How to not act like a cop. After the day, my wife said, ‘Well, what did you think of your new partner? I said, ‘I really like Lori. Lori’s going to be really good to work with. Lori’s a good person.’
She said, ‘Well, how can you say all of that when you just met her? I said, ‘It’s just a little thing. For example, she says gnarly. My wife said, ‘You mean like surfers say gnarly?’ I said, ‘No, no no, like you’re driving down the road, and you say, ‘We’re gnarly there.’ That’s Lori.”
Daniels said that a few weeks later, they were working undercover at nights in some of the bars.
“We pulled up, we were acting as a couple,” Daniels said. “We pulled up to this bar, and she seen a car sitting out front. This tells you how well she was tuned in to her community. She said, ‘Oh, I know that guy. He’s going to know me. I can’t go in. I’m going to hide.’
“She crawls in the backseat of my unit and lays down. I get out, do my thing, do the intelligence, come back in, okay, fine, we go home. The next day was Sunday morning. We got up, my wife said, ‘Your car is filthy.’
“I said we’ve been driving them old track roads. She said we need to clean it up. So, she goes out there and starts cleaning on my car and she stops and says, ‘Why is there jewelry, earrings in the backseat of your car?’ I said, ‘You know Lori. If she gets something bothering her, she’s going to take it off.’ The next week, we have a big meeting in Tahlequah. It’s hot. She drove up, come walking in the door carrying her pantyhose. She said, ‘The air conditioner in that unit don’t work and it’s so hot and I was just lathering so I had to take them off.”’ Daniels believes that a person dies twice in this life.
“Once when your body quits and the second time when your name is spoken the last time,” he said. “This is going to keep Lori Thomas alive for years.”
