Suspected drunken driver crashes into pet food plant - Joplin Globe

Suspected drunken driver crashes into pet food plant - Joplin Globe

A Joplin man is facing multiple charges, including drunken driving, after police say he crashed a vehicle early Monday morning through a wall of a pet food plant.

Police were called at 2:59 a.m. to Heartland Pet Food Manufacturing at 8101 E. 32nd St., where a vehicle had punched a hole through a concrete block wall of the plant. Capt. Trevor Duncan said the driver ran off before officers arrived but was later located walking along 32nd Street and arrested.

Thomas E. Harris, 40, was charged with a misdemeanor offense of driving while intoxicated and a felony count of possession of a controlled substance. Harris allegedly had 47 Xanax pills at the time.

Duncan said a count of leaving the scene of an accident also was sought. But the Jasper County prosecutor's office chose not to file that particular charge, according to court records.