Fleeing suspects throw explosives at Mo. police
JOPLIN, Mo. — Authorities in Missouri arrested two men who purportedly threw explosive devices at police officers during a traffic stop.
Deputies with the Jasper County, Missouri Sheriff’s Department found Keith A. Wald, 34, of Joplin, and Nathan J. Felton, 22, of Neosho, at a home outside the city Monday afternoon and took them into custody on felony counts.
At 3:28 a.m. that morning, a Joplin police officer stopped a Ford F-150 pickup pulling a trailer at Fourth Street and Sergeant Avenue after seeing that the trailer had no working lights. The officer had spoken with the two male occupants of the truck and a second officer had arrived on the scene and gotten out of his vehicle when the driver started backing the truck and took off.
“While fleeing from the stop, (the driver) threw an explosive device out of the driver’s side window, which exploded approximately 15 feet from me,” Officer Joel Taber later wrote in a probable-cause affidavit.
The affidavit identifies the driver as Wald.
A chase ensued, during which a second explosive device was thrown from the passenger side of the truck and exploded next to Taber’s patrol vehicle, according to the affidavit.
A Joplin Police Department news release stated that the second explosive device was thrown from the vehicle at E Street and Sergeant Avenue.
Capt. Trevor Duncan, with the Joplin Police Department, told the Joplin, Missouri Globe no officers were injured by the explosive devices. But he termed the danger posed to officers from the devices “significant.” The type of explosive devices thrown remained under investigation Tuesday, he said.
A third officer responding to the chase on the northwest side of Joplin lost control of her patrol car at Lone Elm Road and Surrey, crashing into a tree. The pursuit continued across the state line into Kansas, where officers lost sight of the fleeing truck and trailer near Highway 400 and Messer Road.
“The trailer was determined to have been stolen here overnight,” Duncan said.
Police issued descriptions of the truck and trailer, and both were recovered inside city limits on Monday.
Lehr writes for the Joplin, Missouri Globe.