BY RACHEL DOVE
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

Update 8/20/22 at 9:51 a.m.

LOVELY — After eluding police Friday evening by jumping into the Tug River, a Lovely man was taken into custody shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday.

Martin County Sheriff John Kirk arrested Jason Fields, 37, of Lovely, at a residence on Route 292 in Lovely.

Fields is charged with violating an emergency protective order and fugitive from another state warrant. He is lodged at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville.

Original Story posted 8/19/22 at 10:16 p.m.

LOVELY — Kermit Swift Water Rescue is actively searching for a Lovely man who jumped into the Tug River to escape police Friday evening in Lovely.

The team put a boat in the water at about 8:10 p.m. after family members reported that 37-year-old Jason Fields had jumped in the river in the Long Branch area on Route 292.

He was fleeing Martin County Sheriff’s deputies who showed up at a residence where he was staying.

Fields, the victim of a shooting Tuesday evening on Route 292, had recently been released from the hospital and was allegedly doing his best to elude law enforcement. He is wanted on a felony warrant in West Virginia.

The Martin County Sheriff’s office got a tip Friday afternoon regarding Fields’ whereabouts. When Deputies Chris Kidd and David Adams showed up, Fields jumped from a second-story porch onto a first-story porch, ran over the riverbank, and jumped into the river.

Deputies left the scene after observing Fields “dog-paddling down the river,” according to Martin County Sheriff John Kirk.

Alisha Moore Mollette, Fields’ ex-wife and mother of two children she shares with him, heard about the situation. She and her children began contacting the people living along the river, asking if anyone saw Fields swim to the shore. They then contacted Kermit Volunteer Fire Department chief Wilburn “Tomahawk” Preece, who immediately contacted Sheriff Kirk. The two decided to err toward caution and deploy the river search.

It is unknown if the team will continue searching in the dark or resume efforts Saturday morning.

Preece asks that if you have information or know that Fields made it out of the river and is safe, to please contact Martin County 911 or Mingo County 911 so he can end the search.

“We aren’t interested in specific information,” Preece said. “We need to know if he’s for sure safe so that we don’t conduct a useless search and jeopardize the safety and welfare of our rescue team.

“If no one hears from him and he doesn’t make contact with family or friends, we have no choice but to continue our search since the last time he was seen was when he was in the river.”

This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.

Related story: Shooting on Riverfront Road sends one to hospital, another to jail