Joplin residents face felony drug, assault charges after fleeing police in stolen vehicle, causing accident

(From the Joplin Police Department)

On June 7, 2018 at 10:07pm two detectives were on a call in the 200 block of North Walnut. A white Dodge Pickup Truck was approaching but saw the officers, stopped in the roadway, pulled a U-turn and drove away northbound.

Detectives caught up to the truck at Perkins and Mina and tried to stop it for no license plates but it fled at a high rate of speed and wasn’t pursued. A moment later and 10:09 p.m., the detectives located the truck parking at West 7th Street Wal-Mart and a male and female exited the truck and began walking east.

Before the two could be contacted away from the parked truck they saw a police car approaching and ran back to the truck and drove away eastbound at a high rate of speed on 7th. That officer pursued them with the belief that they were impaired based on their driving with hitting curbs, lane violations and speed.

The vehicle went east on 7th to Gray, north on Gray, West on 5th, and then south on Porter. At 10:11pm at 7th and Porter the vehicle ran a stop sign and struck a 2002 Ford F-150 with two occupants. The vehicle lost control and struck three parked vehicles in the 700 block of South Porter: a 2017 Kia, a 2018 Kia Rio and a 2017 Kia Forte. The fleeing truck came to rest on its side in the roadway. A male driver and female occupant were detained from the vehicle.

The vehicle, a 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 was discovered to have been stolen from Roper Kia and reported to us June 5th.

The male driver, Timothy S. Wright, 31, Joplin was arrested for Felony Resisting Arrest, Possession of a Controlled Substance (meth), Property Damage, Second Degree Assault and Tampering with a Stolen Vehicle. 

The passenger, Tamarine Gustaveson, 38, Joplin was arrested for Joplin warrants, Webb City warrants, and felony out of state warrants along with Resisting, Tampering with a stolen vehicle in the 2nd Degree and property damage. All charges are being submitted to the Jasper County Prosecutor’s Office and both are currently in the Joplin City Jail. Gustaveson was treated and released at a local hospital due to injuries from the crash before being transported to jail.