Mishawaka mayor's son, Joseph Wood, charged with misdemeanor OWI after rollover crash
SOUTH BEND — Joseph Wood, who was at the center of a controversial traffic stop in October 2022, has been charged with a Class A misdemeanor of operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday.
The son of Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood, the 22-year-old was arrested Saturday, Sept. 23, after he allegedly crashed and flipped onto the driver’s side a GMC Sierra in the 900 block of Frances Street.
The crash, which occurred about 8 p.m. in an area with heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic because of the nearby University of Notre Dame home football game, also damaged two unoccupied vehicles parked on Frances Street, with one of the parked vehicles being pushed into an AEP pole from the impact.
From March 2023: Mishawaka police stop mayor's son on suspected drunk driving, take him home with no report
An assistant county prosecutor claimed in the probable cause affidavit filed with the court that a witness told responding police officers the driver of the GMC Sierra disregarded a stop sign at the corner of Howard and Frances streets and that it was traveling at least 40 miles per hour in a 30-mph zone. The affidavit says the witness told police that the GMC Sierra “had come ‘barreling through’ the intersection while accelerating.”
A cooler that contained alcoholic beverages was found on the street near the pickup truck, and Wood told the witness it belonged to him, prosecutors claim.
When questioned by a South Bend Police officer, prosecutors claim, Wood initially stated that he drank one beer, then later stated that he had consumed two beers at 1 p.m. Wood allegedly claimed he experienced mechanical difficulties that, along with a hump in the street's surface, caused the crash.
Police claimed Wood had red and watery eyes.
Wood was transported to Memorial Hospital for treatment of several scrapes and cuts on his body, including his head. Other than Wood, no one else was injured, according to police.
Prosecutors claim a portable breath test administered to Wood at the hospital yielded a result of 0.151% blood alcohol content. It is illegal to drive a vehicle in Indiana with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% or higher, meaning Wood is accused of driving at nearly twice the legal limit. Prosecutors claim Wood then began admitting to more alcohol use and made statements such as “I was drunk” and “I knew I was over the limit.”
After treatment, Wood was taken to the St. Joseph County Jail and released at about 1 a.m. Saturday.
Wood was pulled over in October 2022 in Mishawaka on suspicion of speeding, not using a turn signal and having an expired license plate. Though an officer commented that Wood smelled of alcohol and was stumbling, no tests were conducted and there was no mention of the incident in the department’s public logs.
Instead, Wood was driven home by police Capt. Eric Beckham. An administrative review later found that “no substantive criminal law was broken or violated in this incident.” In April, Beckham volunteered for a demotion from captain to lieutenant, but it was never confirmed if the demotion had anything to do with the incident.
The charge related to Saturday's crash carries a potential maximum penalty of up to a year in jail or a fine of up to $5,000, or both.
Wood is next due in court Nov. 20.
Email Tribune staff writer Andrew S. Hughes at ahughes@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mishawaka mayor's son charged with drunk driving after rollover crash
