When a man broke through a child’s bedroom window in the middle of the night, he likely wasn’t anticipating encountering the dad or what the father would do to protect his family. Unfortunately for the suspect, he was about to learn the hard way.
A man, later identified as Ty Copeland, reportedly broke into a Tulsa, Oklahoma home in the middle of the night, forcing his way inside through a child’s bedroom window and prompting a call to the police. After receiving a call regarding a first-degree burglary in progress at a home near Pine and Memorial, officers arrived on the scene at approximately 2 a.m. to find several family members, including children, screaming in the home’s front yard.
According to the Tulsa Police Department, the family pointed the officers to the house, where the homeowner and the suspect were still inside. Through their investigation, officers learned that Copeland had allegedly crawled through a child’s bedroom window, entering the child’s room while the child was inside as the family was sleeping. At some point, Copeland woke the child’s father, and that’s when the tables turned.
As the determined dad got his wife and children safely out of the home, Copeland began throwing objects and destroying parts of the residence, The Blaze reported. After managing to get his whole family out of the house, the father grabbed a machete and took aim at Copeland, striking him at least once with the weapon.
“He was in there kind of destroying stuff, being aggressive and the father of the house was able to grab a machete at some point to protect himself and the family,” Officer Danny Bean with Tulsa Police explained.
After the dad took a hack at the suspect with the machete, Copeland barricaded himself in a back bedroom. Unfortunately for the home intruder, his efforts to elude accountability for his actions were all in vain. After police arrived, officers ordered Copeland to come outside. When he refused after being given multiple chances to come out with his hands up, the police sent a K-9 officer in after him.
“We gave him chances, multiple chances to come out with their hands up and no weapons. We do tell them there is a dog and we will release the dog inside or come in with the dog,” Officer Bean recalled.
With the aid of the police dog, officers were able to take Ty Copeland into custody. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment after sustaining severe cuts and injuries from broken glass as well as the machete strike. Copeland told officers that he was running from the police when he picked a random house to break into and hide, but police say they weren’t chasing him.
Instead, by his own admission, Copeland had been smoking methamphetamine earlier in the evening. He was seemingly suffering delusions from doing so since meth users can experience meth-induced psychosis during a meth high or after the drug’s effects wear off, The Recovery Village has explained.
Unsurprisingly, Ty Copeland has a history with law enforcement. Records show he spent time in prison since 2010 for assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of stolen property, and possession of a gun as a felon, News On 6 reported. In fact, he was on an ankle monitor when he was arrested, police said. Due to his status as a Native American as well as the McGirt ruling, Copeland was booked into jail on an FBI hold.
Thanks to the brave father’s heroic efforts, nobody in the home was physically hurt. However, the same might not be true for the children’s mental well-being since this is the stuff nightmares are made of, as Officer Bean explained.
“This is the stuff kids are afraid of at night. Someone being in their rooms, under their beds, in their closets, someone coming through their window,” Officer Bean said.
Indeed, a stranger in your room in the middle of the night is both frightening and traumatic, and we hope and pray that this child and the others, who were subjected to Ty Copeland’s violent home invasion, are able to heal from the terrifying ordeal. Hopefully, knowing that they have a machete-wielding dad who will come to their rescue will help ease their fears.
While this is a good reminder for parents to ensure that their children’s bedroom windows are as secure as possible, it also sends an important message about drug use. We often hear that drug offenses are victimless crimes. I think the children in the Tulsa home that Ty Copeland broke into would say differently. Drugs led to this man victimizing an innocent family, and that’s the frightening reality of drug abuse — it does take victims, and the victims are seldom the user. Instead, the innocent pay the price.
