Don't steal what you don't know how to operate!

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Police capture reckless biker

By Dennis W. Sowers Of The Press Staff
A speeding teenager on a motorcycle eluded law enforcement agencies Monday, but he could not escape his own reckless behavior.

Jonathan Carl Wright, 17, avoided traffic stops in Carthage before speeding out of town and then crashing a stolen 2002 yellow Honda motorcycle at a sharp curve on Hwy. 96 West at County Road 180.

Wright -- formerly of Carthage and currently of Webb City -- then ignored help from a motorist and left the scene of the accident on foot.

A sheriff's deputy who attempted to arrest him for speeding (82 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. speed limit on Oak Street) pursued him on foot soon after the accident and chased him for about a mile and half before a group of law enforcement officers cornered and arrested him.

"I saw it all," said Josh Craig, who was passed by Wright in his wrecker on Hwy. 96. "I was doing 60 m.p.h. and he passed me as if I was standing still. He lost it and went across the bank and went airborne."

Wright couldn't handle the turn south of County Road 180 and went off-road for nearly 100 yards before he hit a small embankment and went airborne. Craig immediately went to help him and called 911.

"When I pulled over I told him I was going to call an ambulance," Craig said. "He was bleeding from the nose and the mouth. He cussed me and went off running."

Paramedics were called to the scene and Wright was found to have slight to moderate injuries, but he did not require hospital treatment. He was treated further at the sheriff's department by the nurse on duty.

"He's lucky," said Sgt. Aaron Richardson. "He's definitely lucky."

His luck will run out in court. The teenager now faces a barrage of city, county and state charges.

In Carthage alone, he faces eight tickets -- four for no driver's license, two for careless and imprudent driving and two for attempting to elude officers.

A Carthage police officer was the first to encounter Wright at 10:49 a.m. when he attempted to pull him over for careless driving.

At 11:36 a.m., Sgt. David Martin spotted the yellow motorcycle at Sonic drive-in talking to a few people. Martin tried to question him, but Wright headed down an alley and south on Baker Boulevard.

The Missouri Highway Patrol is charging him with failure to drive on the right half of the roadway, no valid driver's license, no motorcycle designation and a felony of leaving the scene of an accident.

The Jasper County Sheriff's Department arrested him for probable cause on two felonies and four traffic tickets. Charges are being sought for felonies of stolen property and resisting arrest by fleeing the scene of an accident. His traffic tickets are for speeding, failure to yield, careless driving and possession of a controlled substance.

Wright was released from the Jasper County Jail Tuesday afternoon and is seeking medical treatment for his injuries, said JCSD Chief Deputy Kelly Stephens.