Man who fled from DWI crash held at gunpoint

Andrew Lovelace, 28, of Bradleyville, has been charged in Ozark County with operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner involving an accident (first offense), trespassing, owner/operator of a vehicle failing to maintain financial responsibility (failing to register), driving while intoxicated causing physical injury and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage costing over $1,000. 

According to the probable cause statement, prepared by Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. D. Johnson, at 1:37 p.m. June 2, he was notified that a driver had left the scene of the crash on Highway 160 in Theodosia. Johnson was informed that a white Jeep had crossed the centerline and side-swiped an oncoming vehicle. A dispatcher also replayed that the driver of the vehicle that was hit by the Jeep had turned around and followed it, and that they’d been informed that the driver of the Jeep was now being held at gunpoint. 

When Johnson arrived on scene he saw that Lovelace was being held at gunpoint by another man on private property, the statement says. The man was not involved in the crash, but instead was the owner of the property where Lovelace was trespassing. The officer  arrested Lovelace for leaving the scene of an accident and placed him in the right front seat of the patrol vehicle, while the officer spoke with the man on scene who had held the suspect at gunpoint. 

Johnson’s report says the man told the officer that after finding Lovelace on his property, he told him repeatedly it was private property and he wasn’t allowed and needed to leve; however, the man said Lovelace did not attempt to leave and went onto the private property, the report says. 

“Lovelace finally listened when the weapon was drawn...

Prior to that encounter, the victim in the hit-and-run crash followed Lovelace down a private lane approximately a quarter mile where the defendant abandoned his Jeep, the officer says, and began walking back up the lane when he came in contact with the man who ended up holding him at gunpoint. 

The officer asked one of the other two to show him where Lovelace had abandoned the vehicle. He got back into his patrol vehicle with Lovelace in the passenger’s seat, and in the report he says he noticed the moderated odor of alcohol emitting from the suspect’s breath and noticed his eyes were watery and bloodshot. 

The officer found his vehicle, a white 2011 Jeep Compass. Inside the vehicle, the officer found alcohol, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

“He informed me he had three shots of whiskey and had not consumed any alcohol since 11:45 a.m.,” Johnson said in his report. Although it’s not clear when this discussion was, the discussion with Lovelace likely occurred sometime after 2 p.m., as the call was first assigned to Johnson at 1:37 p.m.

The officer transported Lovelace back to the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department, where he was booked into the jail. He agreed to provide a breath sample, and at 4:05 p.m. the test was administered, indicated a blood alcohol content of .123 percent, nearly twice the legal limit to drive in Missouri. 

He was scheduled to return to court for a plea hearing or trial setting at 9:30 a.m. June 11, but results of that hearing were not available at presstime. He was held in jail until June 5 when he posted the $2,500 cash only bond that was issued in his case and was released with supervision from Brook Wellness Center in Forsyth. The cost of the supervision is to be paid by the defendant. He is ordered to be drug tested twice weekly, have no contact or associate with those on probation, parole, bond or convicted or charged with felonies, have no contact with the victims in the case, not consume alcohol or drugs that are not prescribed or leave the state except for employment purposes.