Local man allegedly driving stolen truck arrested after fleeing

A local man wanted on drug charges for allegedly driving a stolen truck was arrested early Wednesday morning after he fled a traffic stop by a Garland County Sheriff’s deputy and caused a crash on North Moore Road.

Joseph Gerald Wood, 31, of Penn Street, was taken into custody around 1:15 a.m. He was initially charged with vehicular ejection, theft over $1,000 and second-degree criminal damage – each aggravated felonies punishable by up to six years in prison – as well as fleeing on foot and reckless driving as misdemeanors.

Wood was also charged with reckless and prohibited driving, driving without insurance and driving left of center and was initially held on $8,000 bail. At around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, he was served with warrants for trafficking in a controlled substance and two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, including meth and fentanyl, each of which is punishable by up to life in prison.

Wood remained in custody Friday on a total bail of $108,000 and was scheduled to appear in Garland County District Court that afternoon.

According to a news release issued Friday, Sheriff’s Cpl. Thomas Fox was “conducting business checks” on Wednesday when he saw a maroon GMC Sierra pickup truck traveling westbound “at a high rate of speed” in the area of ​​1600 Airport Road.

Fox pulled up behind the truck and reportedly saw it “illegally passing several vehicles,” so he activated his emergency equipment to stop traffic as they approached the intersection with North Moore Road.

The driver of the vehicle refused to stop, lost control and crashed in the area of ​​the 600 block of North Moore, the press release said.

After losing sight of the vehicle, Fox arrived at the scene and observed the driver, later identified as Wood, exiting the vehicle. Wood allegedly refused to comply with Fox’s instructions and fled on foot, but Fox was able to apprehend him without further incident.

Upon further investigation, Fox was able to determine that the vehicle had been reported stolen in the city of Hot Springs, the news release said, which led to another theft in which charges were filed.

According to a search warrant affidavit related to the drug charges, controlled purchases of meth and fentanyl pills were made from Wood at his Penn Street home between February 15 and May 15.