A Morgantown man is charged with leading sheriff’s deputies on a vehicle chase in a stolen car.
John P. Foster IV, 44, is charged with larceny and two counts of fleeing with reckless disregard by the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office.
On June 18, a man reported his red 2006 Mazda 6 was stolen from his driveway at Independence Hill Village, according to a criminal complaint.
The victim said he noticed his keys were missing earlier and about five minutes before talking to Deputy R. Ambrose, he heard a car horn outside and his car was gone. The victim said he thought Foster took it and pointed deputies to Foster’s home on Gladesville Road, the complaint said.
Deputy B. Broker was watching traffic near the Grafton Road and Gladesville Road intersection when he spotted the red Mazda and attempted to stop it with his vehicle’s emergency lights and siren, according to a complaint.
The driver of the vehicle didn’t stop and fled at a “high rate of speed” while traveling in the wrong lane of traffic, passing vehicles over a double yellow line and “displaying total disregard for the safety of the public,” the complaint said.
Broker stopped chasing the vehicle and about 15 minutes later the same red Mazda 6 almost hit his cruiser at the intersection of Halleck Road and Smithtown Road, the complaint said.
The pursuit was resumed and Broker was joined by other deputies and troopers from the West Virginia State Police, the complaint said. The Mazda ran stop signs, was in the wrong lane and ignored public safety.
Several miles later, the chase ended when the vehicle wrecked down an embankment on May Road into a hay field, according to the complaint.
The driver was found about 20 yards from the crash lying down in the woods and deputies recognized him as Foster from previous encounters, the complaint said.
Foster was arraigned June 20 by Magistrate Sandy Holepit and is being held in North Central Regional Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond.
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