INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A Blue Springs man has been charged for his suspected role in Thursday’s Independence police chase. He would eventually crash into another vehicle and two people were hospitalized. That man is 23-year-old Josh Hardin, who was slapped with several felony charges, including assault and resisting arrest. Police also say he had drugs on him and was driving with a revoked license.
After he faced a judge, he faced our cameras and had this to say:
“I never hit my girlfriend and I didn’t mean to run into that guy’s car and I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done,” Hardin said.
Hardin was arraigned on Friday for charges that included: second-degree assault, second-degree domestic assault, resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor charge of driving with a revoked license.
Police say they got a 9-1-1 call that a female passenger in a car was being beaten that they now say is Hardin’s girlfriend. Police tried to stop Hardin’s car, but he took off and didn’t stop until he T-boned a Jeep. That driver is still hospitalized and remains in critical condition.
We spoke with Todd Hendrix, Hardin’s step-father, on Friday who said that both Hardin and his family know what happened was wrong.
“I mean, he just made all the wrong choices. He knows it, we know it and we are just praying that the other person is okay,” Hendrix said.
He said the relationship between his stepson and girlfriend is toxic and has caused nothing but problems.
“Some drug-related, but related to each other. They fight each other all the time. It`s an abusive relationship, but unfortunately from what people seen on the highway, it’s kind of opposite of the way it usually works. Usually it’s her abusing him.”
Hardin’s girlfriend, who family members say is in the hospital with broken ribs and a punctured lung, has never been charged with a violent crime. However, court records show they both have been arrested for possessing drugs and alcohol related incidents. Both families admit the two are addicts.
“It takes two people to get to the point of where they were,” Hendrix said.
Even with their previous history, Hendrix said this incident exceeds what he thought was possible between the couple.
“This is beyond what we could have ever expected. It’s always small, petty things that keeps him held back in life, but he just entered a whole new realm of problems,” Hendrix said.
FOX 4 spoke with the girlfriend`s father, who did not want to go on camera, but said his daughter has many problems. He disputed the claim his daughter has ever been violent towards Hardin.
