Joseph D. Weatherby, 32, of Sullivan has been accused of fleeing from the same Eureka Police officer on two separated occasions. He was arrested by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office after the second time he allegedly failed to stop for the Eureka Police officer, court records said.
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on June 24 charged Weatherby with two counts of aggravated fleeing, a class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison; and two counts of driving with a revoked license, a class A misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000, according to court documents.
Weatherby previously had been charged with stealing a motor vehicle in October 2023 in Ellisville; possession of a controlled substance following an arrest by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in November 2023; and two counts of possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest, driving with a revoked license and possession of drug paraphernalia following an arrest in St. Clair in October 2023, court records show.
Weatherby also was on probation when he was arrested. In July 2024, he pleaded guilty to stealing a motor vehicle in Franklin County following an October 2023 arrest in Pacific. The judge in that case suspended Weatherby’s seven-year sentence and placed him on five years’ probation, court records said.
According to the case’s probable-cause statement, a Eureka Police officer attempted to stop a car Weatherby was driving because there was no active registration associated with the license plate. The officer attempted to stop Weatherby on East Fourth Street, but Weatherby made a U-turn, drove on the road’s shoulder and allegedly sped through a red light to avoid the officer.
The officer did not pursue Weatherby, but he was able to track Weatherby down to a nearby home. Weatherby was arrested and released pending the application for charges with the officer telling him if he fled another stop, the car would be towed, the report said.
On June 23, the same officer saw Weatherby in a car in the Walmart parking lot, 131 Eureka Towne Center Drive. The officer turned on his cruiser’s lights to stop the car because he knew Weatherby’s license was revoked, according to the report.
Weatherby drove away from the officer, who followed Weatherby’s car onto West Fifth Street. Weatherby eventually stopped on West Fifth Street near Howerton Lane, but when the officer approached the car, Weatherby allegedly sped away and got onto I-44, the report said.
The officer notified the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office about Weatherby, and a deputy stopped Weatherby. The Eureka Police officer responded to the stop, and when the car Weatherby was driving was towed, he allegedly said to the officer, “You’re a man of your word, aren’t you,” according to the report.