MORGANTOWN – An 18-year-old West Virginia University student seen in viral videos sledding down 3rd Street in a laundry cart before bailing out as the cart slammed into a police cruiser is facing several charges.
Joshua S. Beard, of Indiana, is charged with fleeing from an officer, disorderly conduct, injury or destruction of property, playing in streets, and underage possession of alcohol, according to Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Stacy.
The Morgantown Police Department received a second report about people sledding down and blocking 3rd Street for the second time within the hour at 12:21 a.m. Thursday, according to a Morgantown Municipal Court complaint.
Multiple videos of incidents were posted to social media from various angles. They have hundreds of thousands of views combined.
In one video, which had 108,000 views as of Friday afternoon, a man in a blue jacket is seen sledding down a partially plowed 3rd Street before jumping out of a laundry cart and sliding past an MPD cruiser that was coming up the road. The cart stopped after hitting the front of the police SUV.
In the criminal complaint, Officer C. Webster estimated Beard slid about 30 feet. Webster stopped his cruiser at the intersection of Grant Avenue and 3rd Street to stop the flow of traffic on Grant.
“Just as I placed the car in park, I observed a male in a red laundry bin, which has large wheels, coming down the roadway,” Webster wrote. He was unable to move his vehicle out of the way because the bin was coming down too fast and he couldn’t predict where it was going.
Webster said he told Beard to stop but he ran and was caught in an alley off 3rd Street. Videos on social media also show officers catching up to Beard and tackling him.
He was arrested and had two cans of Busch Light on him, the complaint said.
Beard is free on $550 bond.
One other citation was issued on the call for an open container violation, Stacy said.
WVU Executive Director of Communications April Kaull said Beard is a WVU student.
“We remind our students that their actions should always represent our Mountaineer values; when they don’t there are consequences,” she said. “Beyond any criminal charges, they will also be subject to charges under WVU’s Student Conduct Code.”
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