Suspect arrested after stripping, jumping into river

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A wild scene played out Friday afternoon along U.S. 60 in Huntington, as police chased a man who’d stripped off his clothes.

Joseph William Smith, 29, is charged with attempt to commit a felony, obstructing an officer, and destruction of property.

Huntington Police say just before 2:30 p.m., they got a call of a man trying to get into cars at a store parking lot on U.S. 60.

The criminal complaint says as officers were responding, they were flagged down by someone saying a man had just tried to steal his truck.

Huntington Police say they found Smith in a creek along Arlington Boulevard taking his clothes off.

The complaint says Smith ignored orders to stop and come to the road, and he took off across Route 60 and jumped into the Guyandotte River.

After a short swim back and forth along the bank, police say he surrendered.

Smith was arraigned Friday evening at the Cabell County Courthouse. His bond was set at $30,000.

David Booth is the manager at SD&A Teleservices along Route 60 near where the chase ended.

He also lives across the street and says this was going on around the time his daughter would be getting home from school.

“I was kind of concerned if there was a naked guy running around,” Booth said. “You definitely don’t need that with kids getting off school buses and all the traffic. If you’ve got somebody running around, there’s too much that could go wrong.”

Copyright 2023 WSAZ. All rights reserved.