MORGANTOWN — Joseph P. Elias, 40, of Wintersville, Ohio, was taken into custody by Monongalia County Sheriff’s deputies on several charges after an altercation that resulted in a deputy needing stitches.
Deputies responded to 30 Basswood St., a criminal complaint said, after a report of a suspicious vehicle that had been parked in the roadway for some time with its lights on.
Deputies said when they arrived on the scene they saw a man who they later identified as Elias in the front driver’s seat of a Toyota Highlander. The complaint stated Elias was “asleep with a white crystal-like powder on his sweatshirt.”
When Deputy Noah Thompson, who filed the complaint, attempted to wake Elias, he “became agitated and began to use profane language” against him.
Thompson said he told Elias to step out of the car several times, to which he replied with “more profane language and hand gestures and eventually fell back asleep.”
When additional units arrived on the scene, deputies attempted to remove Elias from the vehicle since he refused to exit on his own. According to the complaint, upon doing so, Elias threw a metal coffee cup at Sgt. Hunn, also of the Sheriff’s Department, causing his lip to bust open. In addition, Elias broke the mounting clip for Hunn’s body camera while deputies were attempting to apprehend him. Hunn required stitches for the injury.
Thompson said in the complaint that deputies asked Elias if he had taken any kind of drugs or prescription medication and he said he had taken Xanax earlier in the day, and stated that he had not slept in two days.
Thompson noted that while speaking Elias had slurred speech, bloodshot, glassy eyes, and could not remember much of what was going on.
Elias was arrested and charged with obstructing officers, assault on a government employee, destruction of property, and driving while impaired. His bond was set at $10,000 and he is currently being held at the North Central Regional Jail.
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