Joseph Wood biography: 12 things about Mishawaka, Indiana man

Who is Joseph Wood?

Joseph “Joe” Wood is an American man from Mishawaka, Penn Township, St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. He has two older sisters and one younger brother.

On September 23, 2023, Wood was arrested on operating while intoxicated (OWI). At the time, his father David “Dave” A. Wood, a Republican, was serving as the mayor of Mishawaka.

On September 24, 2023, Dave released a statement about the arrest. He said, “My wife and I were very disappointed to hear about our adult son’s accident and alleged OWI Saturday night in South Bend.”

“We have always put our family as our top priority,” Dave continued. “Our family is not perfect. We know that Joseph is dealing with some mental health issues and we are committed to getting him the help and resources he needs.”

Joe is a Mishawaka High School alumnus. Here are 12 more things about him:

1. From 1998 to 2010, his father served on the common council of Mishawaka.
2. He was born in 2001.
3. In 2010, his father became the mayor of Mishawaka after Jeff Rea gave up the position to become the executive director of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce.
4. In 2016, his father joined the boy’s varsity football team of Mishawaka High School.
5. In 2020, he graduated from Mishawaka High School.
6. In July 2022, he was filmed inside a garage pretending to be a police officer pulling two individuals over in a car and repeatedly yelling racial slurs.
7. At around 12:22 a.m. on October 28, 2022, Mishawaka Police Department officers pulled him over in Mishawaka after observing him rapidly accelerating from an intersection and failing to use a turn signal. When officer Andrew Branson asked him to get out of his car because there was a firearm on the passenger seat, he identified himself as a Mishawaka’s sewer department employee and city’s mayor’s son. He was suspected of being intoxicated but no breathalyzer test was administered. Minutes later, Mishawaka Police Department captain Eric Beckham arrived on scene and took him to his father’s residence.
8. On April 11, 2023, Beckham was voluntarily demoted to lieutenant. An administrative review by the Mishawaka Police Department determined that Beckham violated a policy during the traffic stop involving him on October 28, 2022 but no substantive criminal law was broken.
9. At 8:00 p.m. on September 23, 2023, he allegedly drove a vehicle that hit two parked cars and landed on its side in South Bend, St. Joseph County. After being checked at the hospital for minor injuries, he was booked into the St. Joseph County Jail in South Bend.
10. On September 24, 2023, his father thanked the South Bend Police Department and the staff of the St Joseph County Jail, operated by the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department, for the way they handled his arrest.
11. On November 9, 2023, a video of him pretender to be a cop and yelling racial slurs in July 2022 surfaced.
12. On August 28, 2024, he pleaded guilty to OWI and was sentenced to one year in jail, suspended, and a year on probation.