Two suspects who purportedly threw explosive devices at Joplin, MO, police during a traffic stop and ensuing pursuit Monday were captured later in the day by deputies with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, reports the Joplin Globe.
Deputies located Keith A. Wald, 34, of Joplin, and Nathan J. Felton, 22, of Neosho, at a residence outside the city and took them into custody on felony counts.
At 3:28 a.m., a Joplin police officer stopped a Ford F-150 pickup truck pulling a trailer at Fourth Street and Sergeant Avenue for having no working lights on the trailer. The officer had made contact with the two male occupants of the truck and a second officer had arrived on the scene and exited his vehicle when the driver started backing up 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 police pursuit 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.
No deputies were injured by the explosive devices.
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