Washington man stole truck after overdose
Joseph Boone
Crews remove one of five vehicles involved in a crash Tuesday afternoon on Walnut Street in Washington. Among the three people injured was the driver of a stolen pickup who allegedly initiated the collision.
A 22-year-old Washington man arrested on a litany of charges following a multiple-vehicle crash Tuesday stole a truck near Washington Hospital after he fled the emergency room while being treated for a heroin overdose, Washington police said.
Joseph Boone, of 489 McKee Road, stole a pickup truck owned by Brian Lacock, of Greenhill Drive, who had left it idling while finishing up landscaping work.
“I just saw a security guard running after him, but I wasn’t able to catch him,” Lacock said Wednesday. “The truck doesn’t look like it’ll be able to be salvaged. But this was a real nightmare. I feel bad for everyone involved. But these drugs – I don’t get it how people get on them.”
A crash at the intersection of Main Street and Walnut Street was the start of the chase by city police around 1:25 p.m. as a van driven by Richard Bell was rear-ended by Boone.
“I was coming from the hospital, too, and I was stopped at the light when he ran into me. He got out and I could tell something was wrong. He was pretty lethargic. I asked for his information and he gave me the owner’s info, not his, then got back the truck and rear-ended me again,” Bell said. A police officer arrived on scene and instructed Boone to get out of the truck. He repeated the officer’s words, backed into his patrol car and took off, police said.
Police chased Boone as he sped down Walnut Street and struck five more cars, some of which were parked. Melissa Sawicky was driving up Walnut Street and tried swerving out of Boone’s way as he traveled at a high rate of speed, police said.
“If I didn’t swerve, he would’ve hit me head on. I hurt my back and got a couple of bruised ribs out of it,” Sawicky said.
The occupants of a car that was struck – Dan Straceski and Dan Arcovio – were reported injured, Washington police said, but could not be reached for comment. Authorities said no one suffered life-threatening injuries.
The truck Boone was driving ultimately stopped after it went airborne and crashed into parked vehicles in the lot of Jefferson Avenue United Methodist Church. Boone was tackled by police and returned to the hospital for examination. He was uninjured in the crashes.
He was placed in Washington County jail on $20,000 bond and faces a preliminary hearing Jan. 13 on the following charges: theft of a vehicle, receiving stolen property, aggravated assault; three counts of aggravated assault by vehicle; four counts of reckless endangerment; two counts of accident involving an attended vehicle; three counts of accident involving unattended vehicles; four counts of reckless endangerment and one count of reckless driving.