By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A 39-year-old man has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm after brandishing a weapon in a threatening manner when a police pursuit ended at 16th and Garfield Tuesday night.
Nicholas Glen Newton, listed as a homeless St. Joseph resident, fled from police in what appears to have been a stolen U-Haul truck. Shots were fired in the incident. No one was harmed.
Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators are reviewing the St. Joseph police officer’s role in the shooting. Highway Patrol Troop H spokesman, Sgt. Shane Hux, says the patrol responded to the scene as soon as requested.
“St. Joseph Police Department requested Missouri State Highway Patrol’s assistance with an officer-involved shooting,” Hux tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “Our Division of Drugs and Crime Control responded to the scene. They are investigating the officer-involved shooting. They are not investigating the initial incident that led up to that.”
St. Joseph police report a 45-caliber handgun was recovered at the scene.
The probable cause statement filed in the case reports Newton refused to pull the truck over during an attempted traffic stop around 10 o’clock Tuesday night, continuing to drive west on Garfield. Officers deployed spike strips. Newton lost control of the truck in the 1600 block of Garfield. It went off the street and got stuck on railroad tracks.
St. Joseph police report Newton threatened officers with a handgun, believed to have been stolen in October. Newtown is a convicted felon and, thus, prohibited from having a firearm. Police say Newton had an active parole violation warrant out for him and had a long list of previous convictions, including eight citations for failure to appear in court.
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