Ozark County deputies, using GPS tracking, were able to pursue a serial car thief in a reported stolen truck before it crashed, breaking a utility pole and coming to rest with its wheels in the air. The driver of the truck, 32-year-old Joseph Dwayne Hale of Cabool, was taken into custody, but not before he crawled out a window of the wrecked vehicle and fled.
The Ozark County Times reports Hale was arrested earlier this month on charges of tampering with a motor vehicle, property damage to a vehicle with the intent to steal it, first-degree property damage, resisting arrest, causing a substantial risk of injury or death to others, two counts of operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner involving an accident, failing to stop at an intersection and abandoning a vehicle or trailer. The charges are in connection with the Dec. 18 incident, with bond set at $15,000, cash-only.
He was scheduled for a bond-reduction hearing earlier this month in Ozark County Circuit Court. However, online records show he did not appear. The hearing was continued to March 9.
According to the probable cause statement, deputies were dispatched to Bakersfield for a report of a stolen truck. The caller told a dispatcher he had a tracking device on the truck and would keep the officers informed of its location.
Approximately 2-3 miles south of Missouri Highway 160, deputies met the truck on Missouri Highway 101 traveling in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed.
The officers followed Hale onto Highway 160, heading east toward West Plains, with speeds reaching in excess of 100 miles per hour, but with the suspect pulling away.
Due to traffic conditions and the erratic driving of the suspect, officers deactivated emergency equipment and resumed normal driving speeds continuing in the direction of the suspect vehicle.
Ozark County dispatch secured updated information from the vehicle owner utilizing GPS, allowing the deputies to know the truck was on OO Highway, turning onto County Road 7320 in Howell County.
They turned onto YY Highway and then onto Highway 101, where the officers met the suspect truck.
When they attempted to make a traffic stop, the truck quickly accelerated and turned onto a dead-end county road.
Shortly after turning onto the county road, the truck reportedly crashed, striking a utility pole and breaking it in half; the truck rolled over and came to rest with its wheels in the air.
Deputies approached the vehicle from opposite sides, with Hale unsuccessfully attempting to break the passenger’s window from inside the truck. When that failed, he was able to roll down the window and crawl out.
He failed to comply with commands to stop and instead turned and attempted to flee. However, he was quickly apprehended in a nearby patch of timber.
According to online court records, Hale was found guilty of resisting or interfering with an arrest in April 2009, attempting to tamper with a motor vehicle in January 2010, tampering with a motor vehicle in July 2017 and two counts of tampering with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest by fleeing in May 2018.
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