A Missouri man who decided a routine traffic stop was simply not on his calendar pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday, admitting he packed heat while taking police on an impromptu, high-speed road trip across state lines.
Joel A. Hancock, 52, of Kennett, Missouri, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The trouble began on Jan. 7, 2025, when Dunklin County sheriff’s deputies pulled Hancock over to chat about several outstanding felony warrants. Uninterested in the conversation, Hancock ignored orders to exit his vehicle. When a deputy tried reaching through an open window to unlock the door manually, Hancock chose door number two: stomping the accelerator and vanishing down the asphalt…