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Judge sets bond for Parkersburg man who fled from police

PARKERSBURG — A Parkersburg man injured while trying to escape authorities after a high-speed pursuit Thursday was arraigned in Wood County Magistrate Court on Saturday.

Jason Michael Bernard, 44, in custody at the North Central Regional Jail, was arraigned on charges of obstructing an officer and fleeing.

Magistrate Robin Waters set his bond at $25,000 each. He was also arraigned on a capias warrant issued by Wood County Circuit Court, apparently related to his indictment in August on two counts each of delivery of a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit delivery of a controlled substance.

Bernard will have a bond hearing in circuit court on the capias at a later date.

Bernard had been taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown from Camden Clark Medical Center after he sustained a facial injury when officers apprehended him in the kitchen of Gran Ranchero Mexican Restaurant on Ohio Avenue in Parkersburg on Thursday afternoon. Bernard was a passenger in a reportedly stolen car Vienna Police said fled when an officer tried to pull it over in the Grand Central Mall parking lot.

After a pursuit exceeding speeds of 80 mph that ended after two collisions with Vienna Police cruisers in Parkersburg, Bernard exited the car and ran inside the restaurant, police said.

Security at Ruby Memorial reported Bernard had left the hospital at 11:13 p.m. He was recaptured by Morgantown Police and returned to the hospital.

The driver of the car in the Thursday pursuit, Derick Layne Walker, 32, of Washington, W.Va., was also in custody at the regional jail on a $25,000 bond.

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